


Take Me Down

by Koibitotedare



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: College, College!AU, Double Date, Handholding, M/M, Mermaid!Oikawa, Modern Day, Piggyback Rides, but not until later, but on a remote island so, coffee dates, human!Iwaizumi, in which there is a college au and a mermaid au in one, is rated for later chapters, iwaoi - Freeform, mermaid, mermaid!au, sassy mom, there is still volleyball
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-16
Updated: 2018-01-29
Packaged: 2018-05-21 01:25:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 123,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6033007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Koibitotedare/pseuds/Koibitotedare
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Iwaizumi is a simple college student trying to get a grip and put on a facade of normalcy.  Except, a run in with a mermaid has him pulled into all sorts of unwanted situations like sleepovers, strange magic, love, and of course a war between mythological creatures that has been waging beneath the water's surface for centuries. </p><p>Who knew Iwaizumi was the lost force the creatures were searching for.<br/>At least the mermaid that found him wants nothing to do with the war...right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Home

The ocean was his first home and a double sided coin.

 One side was the sound of breaking waves and gentle breezes that made his skin prickle and his bangs slide against his forehead.  It was the feeling of warmth that came through his chest and spread down his arms to his finger tips.  It was comfort that eased his muscles from their tensed coils and let his breath come steady.  It was the feeling of sand in his sandals squishing between his toes and coating his ankles.  The side of home. 

The flip side was of terror and mystery that only took one wrong step, one wrong look, to steal the comfort.  It would sap away at the warmth in his limbs and change into shaking and white panic.  The other side was cold sweat in his bangs and down his back.  One step too close made his heart race and his legs freeze halfway onto the dock.  The ocean was a home but he was so very scared of it. 

While it hadn’t always been that way, Iwaizumi feared it would continue for the rest of his life.  He used to swim freely in open waters without a fear of the creatures lurking below the surface.  Before a certain event he was often found in his dingy, gifted to him on his 14th birthday, gathering fresh fish for his mother’s tank.  Now he was dragging his stiff legs backwards, off of the dock and back onto the sand where it was safe.  Now he telling himself to give it another day to try a different time but still hoping for the day when he could return out to his boat and sail to sea.

Iwaizumi longed for the openness of the sea and gentle rocking of his boat on the surface of the water but he couldn’t shake the white panic that overcame him.  He couldn’t stop thinking about the predators in  the ocean, hunting specifically for humans.  Ones whose sweet voices could entice a man to do things he never once considered before.  Such knowledge never used to bother him, he used to laugh in the face of other sailors who warned him about going out alone at his age with a handsome face.  He used to only half listen to their horror stories in the belief that they were exaggerating the details as old men often did.

  Now he knew better.  He had his own horror stories of the things called _Siren_. Talk of Siren were rare on their island, not because people didn’t believe in them they were a proven fact, but because talk of Siren were dangerous to those who had been exposed to them.  People like Iwaizumi.  So he turned his back to the ocean for the umpteenth time in the past three years with vows to try again tomorrow as he headed North.

His second home was a small one.  One floor and lengthy along the dirt road that had been pressed down after years of use.  It was separated from his sandy yard by a creaky damaged fence which was chipped with years of withstanding ocean swells and storms.  The house itself had been raised off the ground so that when the land below them flooded, their belongings weren’t affected. Shallow footprints in the sand made something resembling a path and led towards the stairs to his home.  The motion of opening the creaky gate of the fence and watching the sand pile up around the weakened wood was familiar enough to make the shaking of his hands finally cease. 

He stepped carefully into the footsteps already in the sand, following the makeshift path.  The stairs that led to the front door were in much better condition than the rickety fence as Iwaizumi had just repaired them.  He had spent nearly a month and a half sanding each step, each rail, each peg to perfect smoothness so his mother could stand on the wooden balcony in her bare feet.  He had also oiled the hinges on the front door so it was completely silent when he opened it. 

“I’m home,” he called as he stepped into the doorway and removed his dirty shoes.

“Welcome back, dear.” His mother answered, presumably from the kitchen if the smell of dinner was anything to go by. 

The house was warm with the heat of the stove and his mother’s gentle humming which could be heard from any room.  The comfort of it chased away the last chills of his fears that had lingered from standing on mere planks of wood above turbulent water.  He breathed in the smell of savory stock and potatoes, a hint of sea salt from outside sneaking in and fully relaxing him, as he reached for his towel that was kept on a peg by the door. 

He sat on the raised section of the floor of the hallway and dusted his feet off watching the sand fall into the lowered section of the floor by the front door.  It trapped any and all material dragged in by them coming and going, leaving their floors mostly clean and free of sand or other beach items.  He would have to sweep the area out after dinner as it was starting to pile up.  He replaced his towel when his feet were clean  and headed down the hallway and into the doorway on the right. 

“Did you get a good deal at the market today?” Iwaizumi asked as he draped his coat over the back of a chair before kissing his mother’s cheek in greeting. 

“It could have been worse,” She shrugged and Iwaizumi moved to stand by her at the sink so he could wash his hands, “I had to punch Marrien to get my fish back but I got a good deal for it.  Broke her nose too.” 

Iwaizumi snorted, lips curling in amusement and eyes crinkling at the sides as he offered his hands out for a knife and a purchased fish, “I bet she was pretty upset about that.”  He cleanly ripped the gills out of the fish before beginning to remove the scales the way his mother liked.

“I’m sure she would have been, if she hadn’t of been out cold on the ground.”  She gave him a sly look that had him laughing fully, bending over the sink and trying to keep a proper hold on his knife. 

“You didn’t stick around to help her?” He asked through his tears.  While it was no rare feat for his mother to get physical over market fish, she had always stuck around afterwards to make sure her victim was at least okay.  Even more surprising was that she and Marrien often accompanied each other to do whatever it was that his mom did in her free time.  He wouldn’t call them best friends but he would say that they had a decent relationship. 

“Oh god no,” his mother huffed while making a motion with her own knife, “her husband was there to drag her home.” 

“You’re too much sometimes,” Iwaizumi said fondly as he pulled the organs of the fish out and dumped them in the orange bucket his mother used for fish innards, she’d cook it into something delicious later.  He put the gutted fish on the tray his mother was using for them before reaching for another one, “speaking of husbands….is dad still out?” 

“You know you’re father,” She sighed, shoulders drooping, “Still thinks he can catch the thing that got you…”

“Nearly got me,” Iwaizumi corrected, although it was flat and had no power. 

They didn’t talk about how Iwaizumi had almost died three years ago and why he could no longer step foot in the ocean.  They didn’t mention how it seemed as if his father _had_ been the one to die from the inside out after that moment.  He had devoted his life and his ship, and therefore by default his crew, to finding the Siren that had nearly taken Iwaizumi and he had vowed to kill it before it came back to finish the job.  Not that it was possible with Iwaizumi on land, Siren’s were sea bound creatures.

“…It was a close thing dear,” his mother said hoarsely. 

The confession had made his head spin with memories of sweet songs and the absolute weightlessness of his own body.  He remembered the way his body had swayed with the waves of the very ocean, how he had listed so fully to one side that he had fallen over on the deck of the ship.  He remembered gathering strength he didn’t have to stand  again and answering the call of the Siren by hooking one leg over the side of the ship and reaching down towards the dark waters where he knew it was waiting.  He could still hear the yell of his father, muffled behind the hazy tranquility of the Siren’s song as he was grabbed and pulled down into the water.  Iwaizumi felt his lungs suck in a sharp breath when he remembered the way the icy water sloshed against his face and filled his mouth.  He remembered looking into the eyes of the siren as it cupped his face, grinning something wicked before pulling him down, down, down, until his ears popped and his lungs ached.  Until he realized that he was about to-

“-Hajime?”

His mother’s hand was covering his shaking one, her other arm wrapped around his shoulders keeping him upright because he was pretty sure he had just been swaying again.   His head still spun with forced fogginess and his breath came fast, on the verge of panic.  He had to gulp down air and blink hard to keep the sting of tears off of his face. 

“Sorry-sorry mom.”  He loosened his fingers from the handle of the knife, he couldn’t gut a fish like this.

This is why they didn’t talk about it, because Iwaizumi _remembered_.  This is why no one on the island talked about it, you never knew who had run into a Siren before; who had been poisoned with song.  They talked about the Siren and it’s song muddled his thoughts took control of his body and left him with a strange sense of peace with death.  No matter how hard he tried he couldn’t get the song from his head; it was as if it were ingrained in his very being.  It made his muscles jump to attention, made him want to find the ocean and jump back in without any thoughts of coming back up.  They talked about it and Iwaizumi died, so they didn’t talk about it.

“Don’t be, I’m the one that brought it up,” his mother said her face pinched with worry as she brushed his bangs from his face, “Are you alright?” 

“Yeah,” he lied.  Truthfully he could still feel his muscles tensing and ready to sprint those ten minutes back to the ocean.  He could still feel the muddled blanket of faux ease coating his brain and making him dizzy.  His mother hummed her acknowledgement of the lie as he led his hands to be under the faucet and she turned the tap on.  Taking the hint Iwaizumi washed his hands of fish guts and made sure they were properly sanitized before he looked to his mother for more direction.

“Stir the stew for me, love.” 

She saw through Iwaizumi’s lies and knew to give him jobs that didn’t require steady hands and also why she wouldn’t allow him to go recover in his own room.  Being alone when he was trying to recover from an episode was outlawed after the first time he had done it and ended up face down in the bathtub with no memory of going there.

  Finding a task and focusing on it though, that helped.  Volleyball was his saving grace, something he genuinely enjoyed and something that was physical enough to help work out the shaking and kept him engaged and focused well enough for him to pretend like he had never been a stupid 17 year old full of bravado. 

Since volleyball wasn’t an option in the home, he focused on the swirling colors of thick creamy broth, orange carrots, and green celery until his mind was firmly blank of anything aquatic.  He let his arm work its way around the pot, not letting go of the spoon once as he completed stir after stir; calming with each rotation.  He couldn’t tell if he wanted to stuff his face of the delicious looking strew, go to the volleyball courts at his school and work himself into exhaustion, or sleep for the next week.  Maybe he’d do all three.  Absentmindedly, he picked up the black pepper his mother kept on the spice shelf above the stove and cracked some into the pot, stirring it again.

“Set the table, Hajime,” his mother asked softly.  He hadn’t even noticed that she had finished frying the fish, how long had he been stirring? 

“Should I set a spot for dad?”  Iwaizumi asked knowing that sometimes his mom just liked to pretend he would be there.

There was a moment of silence before a quiet, “no,” but he figured that would be the answer with what had just happened.  So he set the table for two like he did most nights and helped his mother carry the food to their designated hot pads on the wooden surface. 

“Do you have practice tomorrow?”  His mother asked as Iwaizumi ladled stew into her bowl, “Should I make you two lunches?”

“I’ll just take the leftover’s we’ll have tonight,” Iwaizumi answered.

“I’ll sleep in then,”  she poured them both hot tea, “will you be home late again?”

“Yeah.”

Silence fell over them as they ate, nothing more needing to be said but both mother and son taking comfort in the other’s presence.  It was a contented silence that made Iwaizumi’s anxieties melt away and his tense shoulders relax.  It was a warmth in his chest that was completely different from the warmth of the ocean but soothing all the same.

  In the same way that the ocean was a double sided coin as his first home, his second home naturally had a negative flip side.  When he couldn’t see the ocean, Iwaizumi felt as if he were missing some part of himself, not that he knew what that part was and what it had to do with his daily life, only that he felt lost.  His routine was so mundane, so regular that he felt like he was losing himself in them.  Maybe in his younger days he would have blamed the Siren or perhaps the absence of his once devoted father but Iwaizumi knew he had felt like this long before the Siren had ever come into his life. 

He pushed those thoughts aside and ignored the feeling like he usually did before finishing his meal in three large spoonfuls.  He brought his own dishes to the sink and began washing them while his mother packed the leftovers in two plastic containers for him to take to school the following morning.  They moved around each other with practiced ease of a three year routine of washing and drying then putting away dishes.  Their hips didn’t even brush in the tight space as the both moved to wipe tables and counters.  This was part of the dull routine that made him feel lost in himself.  They did the same thing every night without fail, to the point that Iwaizumi knew if he closed his eyes and spaced off, thinking about anything and everything he could, then he would still perfectly complete the routine with a thorough sweeping of the entrance area.  It didn’t feel like anything was real and he couldn’t tell if it was driving him crazy or making him placated. 

“I have a test tomorrow so I’m going to go study,” Iwaizumi said after everything was clean.

“Good luck,” his mother grinned before brushing his bangs back and kissing his forehead, “don’t forget to shower.”

“I won’t.”

He showered first and then pulled out his textbook and highlighters.  Iwaizumi pulled his comforter off of his bed and dragged it over to the window seat where he liked to curl up before going to bed at night.  He could see the lighthouse from here and if he cracked his window the smell of sea salt would fill his lungs and calm his heart.  He watched the reflection of the stars glitter in the water of the ocean and listened to the breaking of the waves.  Before he could ever crack the spine of his textbook he relaxed against the frame of the window and fell asleep, lulled by the comfort of his two homes. 

When he woke up it was to the blaring of his alarm clock at 5am the next morning.  His neck ached from being kept in an awkward position all night.  It wasn’t the first time Iwaizumi had fallen asleep in the window seat and probably wouldn’t be the last but it definitely sucked waking up sore.  He did his morning stretches first to relieve himself of the pain, bending at the waist and grabbing his ankles until his chest was nearly to his knees.  Spreading his legs and pressing his hands to the floor, hugging only one ankle, then the other.  Stretching his back, shoulders, arms, and neck made his bones crack and shift but it was worth the relief. 

If Iwaizumi had his priorities straight, after packing a change of clothes and his school supplies, he would have gone straight to his university to do the studying he hadn’t been able to do last night instead of going to the beach.  Yet he found himself zipping up the jacket on his practice sweats and jogging south to the area where the ocean crashed over the shore.  He let his bag fall in the sand with a soft plop and he took a few steps forward until he too could sit down and let his fingers dig into the sand.  He put the weight of his body on his hands and leaned back until he felt pressure in his wrists and elbows.  The ocean wind was still cold, biting at his nose every time it blew, and the sun not quite up but throwing pink and yellow hues out at the clouds as it struggled to pop up over the horizon. 

Still exhausted from trying last night, he wasn’t up for trying to get past the middle of the dock.  Especially since he still had volleyball practice and school work to deal with and trying to overcome his fear took a lot of strength out of him in the end.  So instead he let the sound of the waves breaking, the freezing wind, and the feeling of cold sand on his hands calm him. 

Eventually his arms shook with the effort of keeping his body up and he let himself fall backwards until his head was resting on his backpack and his practice sweats were dirtied with sand.  He would end up dragging it to class with him but it was nothing new to their school as most of the kids that attended lived outside the city and dragged in all sorts of earth with them.  Some kids did it on purpose,  bringing in wads of thick wet seaweed from the ocean.  Mostly boys took the mass to the second level of the school and dropped it on unsuspecting girls that were walking into campus.  Maybe it would have been funny to Iwaizumi in middle school but they were college students now.  He couldn’t believe some morons hadn’t matured past 13. 

He let his eyes fall shut and he tuned out everything but the sound of the world around him.  Trying to let it ease away the worries of his neglected school work because he really did have a test today.  He just couldn’t work up the motivation to pull his textbook out and actually study for it.  At this point he wasn’t sure he cared if passed the class or not.  It was only a gen ed course and he didn’t even like it.  It wasn’t like it contributed towards his open major anyway.

 The only reason Iwaizumi had even come to college was because he didn’t know what he wanted to do in life, except play volleyball.  He hadn’t gotten accepted into any teams after graduating high school so his only option was higher education and his college had one of the best teams; not just on the island but nationally.  He had the opportunity to play great teams and have fun, it’s just now he had to pay money to do it. 

“Hey boss man, get up or you’ll miss practice again.”

He had apparently succeeded in shutting out the world because he didn’t even hear Makki approach him with messy steps that sent sand flinging into his face.  Iwaizumi wiped the sand from his face before opening his eyes and glaring at the other whose face was illuminated by the now rising sun.  He must have lost track of time again sitting out here.  Often times Iwaizumi lied in the sand until the sun was high in the sky, completely forgetting that he needed to be on campus hours before.  Sometimes it was on purpose but mostly he just got caught up in everything the land had to offer to him.  Almost always Makki came to collect him, having memorized Iwaizumi’s hang out spots ages ago. 

“I’m not your boss Makki,” Iwaizumi huffed as he pulled himself up into a sitting position. 

“Fine. Come on _Captain_ you’ll be late,” Makki corrected himself as he held out a hand.

Iwaizumi accepted the hand and just as Makki was about to pull him up he caught the small lift at the corner of the other’s mouth.  In an instant Iwaizumi understood what was flicking through Makki’s mind and he gripped the other’s hand tighter before jerking his arm back and pulling the other down into the sand while he took the time to stand on his own. 

Makki had been aiming to prove his strength over Iwaizumi’s for years, ever since they entered high school together and Iwaizumi had proven himself time and time again.  Judging by the way Makki’s face was stuck in befuddled surprise, Iwaizumi would say he was still winning the unspoken battle of arm strength. 

“Come on now number 3 put your back into it,” Iwaizumi teased with his best captain voice as he grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder.

“Haha very funny,” Makki grumbled as he rose to his feet, dusting sand from his clothes. 

“I thought it was.” Iwaizumi grinned wolfishly showing all of his teeth as Makki tried to cover his pout, “Come on we’ll be late.”

“Don’t try and act responsible when you were the one that was going to miss practice!” 

Iwaizumi shrugged off the scolding and shoved his left hand in his pocket while moving his right to hold his bag strap steady.  Makki followed in step with him silently and they worked their way off of the beach and onto the main road.  Light from the sun had started to spill on the concrete and Iwaizumi looked back out towards the sea admiring it and longing to go back out.  Maybe someday he’d finally do it but for now he had volleyball practice and a test to fail. 

“Still can’t go out there?” Makki asked then hurriedly added, “You had that constipated wistful look on your face again,” in clarification just in case Iwaizumi didn’t know why he brought the subject up.  

“I don’t have a constipated face, idiot,” Iwaizumi grumbled as he tried to pinch the features of his face back in order.

“Sure, sure,” Makki agreed absently.

“…I’ll go someday,” Iwaizumi stated. 

He was sick of the way his legs trembled when he was near water, the way his hands couldn’t be trusted, and how his mind seemed blank and wrong.  More than anything, Iwaizumi hated feeling like someone he wasn’t.  What he was, was a fishermen’s son and an award winning sailor.  Everything he was on land, he was on sea.  He wasn’t some city dweller who couldn’t tell the difference between the bow and stern and he sure as hell wasn’t an outsider who hated the way the ocean made their skin feel.  He was Iwaizumi Hajime, ocean enthusiast. 

“You will,” Makki agreed as if it were a well known fact, “Mattsun and I have a bet going, he thinks you’ll get one foot in and never leave again.” 

“Will not,” Iwaizumi snorted, “I got my mom to take care of!” 

“I think you’ll only get a toe in,” Makki smirked. 

“Shut up,” Iwaizumi laughed as he pushed the other hard enough that he stumbled into the sand lining their path. 

“Rough play, captain!  One more and you’re out!”  Makki roared in his best referee voice. 

“ _One_ rough play and you can’t let it go!” Iwaizumi groaned, running a hand through his unruly hair.

 He had accidentally bumped into another player when he had misjudged the distance he needed to jump when they were both going for a ball that could fall on either side of the court with just a push.  He had gone way too far and the resulting collision _was_ his fault but it hadn’t been an intentional rough play, he had apologized and everything.  It wasn’t his fault the kid had fallen and gotten a bloody nose…okay so maybe it was but he it wasn’t his _intention_.  He reshouldered his bag and bumped his shoulder into Makki’s before sliding his arm over the other’s shoulders and pinning his neck in between his own bicep and ribcage, “Take it back Mr. Ref.” 

“Ow ow! Uncle! Uncle!”  Makki called while trying to pull his head from Iwaizumi’s lock, “I _give_!” 

Iwaizumi released him from the lock and immediately dodged the swipe he knew was coming.  He grinned wolfishly and grabbed the handles of his bag before raising an eyebrow and looking towards the direction of the train station.  They had about a 5 minute walk left but if they ran they could make the next train in 2.  Iwaizumi was always ready for a challenge with Makki and he knew Makki’s drive to best him was real. He didn’t wait for the challenge to be accepted before he turned around and started running for the station, the sound of Makki’s footsteps behind him; where they stayed for the next two and a half minutes.  They arrived at the same time as the train.

“Cheater,” Makki panted, “You _choke_ me and then take a head start.  You’re a cheater.” 

“It’s not my fault you’re slow,” Iwaizumi grinned, chest heaving as he stepped onto the train. 

“You’re a bully.” 

“Yeah well this bully is going to lead practice for the next two hours.” 

“Hour and a half,” Makki corrected, “We’re late.” 

Of course they were. 

A twenty minute train ride, five minute walk, and a quick change in the locker room and they were finally ready for the practice that everyone else had started thirty minutes ago.  Luckily Akaashi was an irreplaceable vice captain and Iwaizumi didn’t have much to worry about, other than the fact that it looked like Bokuto was in one of his weird dejected moods again.  Their ace going into weird and unpredictable moods was the reason Iwaizumi was voted in as a back-up ace.  Someone to take charge when Bokuto was out of it and struggling to get his motivation back.  Of course the other players were also key roles in that but only _after_ they had gotten their own play time in. 

“You’re late, captain,” Akaashi said turning to them with a hand on his hip. 

“Sorry about that,” Iwaizumi grinned, “problems with transportation is all.” 

“Mmm,” Akaashi knew he wasn’t being truthful but Iwaizumi wasn’t about to admit that he spent most of his mornings on the beach. 

“H _aaaajime_ ,” Bokuto was whining at him now, “We’ve been waiting so long!!!” 

“It’s been thirty minutes,” Iwaizumi huffed as he did light stretching to warm up, “Keep hitting we’ll join in soon.” 

“Are you dumb or something?”  Mattsun chimed in, wiping sweat from his forehead, “Our own _dearly_ loved captain who struggles with the concept of practices starting time, even struggles to remember the date of his own birth?” 

“He’s definitely a little slow,” Kindaichi sighed, “Tragic.”  

“It’s gotta be all that sunshine affecting him,” Makki shrugged while shaking his head sadly, “Too much sea salt in the air.” 

“Shut up,” Iwaizumi huffed, “It is _not_ my birthday!  We only celebrated Kunimi’s…uhh…” When did they celebrate his birthday again?  Two days ago?  Three?  

“Four days ago,” Akaashi finished, “On the sixth of June.” 

“Today’s the tenth?” Iwaizumi asked dumbly.

“Happy 24th birthday, Captain,” Watari said good naturedly. 

“Uhh…thanks,” Iwaizumi chuckled feeling awkward that he didn’t remember his own birthday.  His mother hadn’t even said anything…although she did sleep in. 

“Well it’s not like this is an unusual thing,” Mattsun shrugged, “you forget every year.”

“Hey Hey HEY!”  Bokuto yelled over the teasing, “Let’s eat cake!”

He pulled a sheet cake up from where it had been resting outside of Iwaizuimi’s view on the side bench.  It was frosted with the colors of their school team, gold and white, and a rather unflattering picture of Iwaizumi post failed spike had been adhered to the center of the cake.  Only four candles had been stuck in the corners, Iwaizumi suspected Akaashi’s simplistic style of design choice for that.  He suspected the troublesome duo, Makki and Mattsun, for the photo but he wouldn’t be surprised if it had actually been Kunimi and Kindaichi.  He assumed the messy sprawled writing of _Happy Birthday Captain_ was Bokuto’s hand of assistance.  It was all rather touching but at the same time…

“Bokuto its 7 in the morning, we can’t eat cake now,” Iwaizumi said as he resumed his stretching, “but…thank you.”  He avoided eye contact with anyone on the team, they made too much of a deal with birthday’s anyway, it was embarrassing. 

“Sure we can!” Bokuto chirped ready to pop the lid off the cake, “we just need a lighter and to sing happy birthday!” 

“Bokuto-san,” Akaashi said calmly waiting until Bokuto looked at him with round pleading eyes, “no.” 

“Ak _aaashi_ -“

“-I’ll toss extra to you today, Iwaizumi-san,” Akaashi said, cutting off and ignoring Bokuto’s hurt sound of disbelief. 

“Save the cake for afternoon, senpai,” Kunimi suggested with a blank face, “It’ll taste better when we can reward ourselves for sticking through morning classes.” 

Bokuto pouted but did end up leaving the cake on the bench to try and steal some tosses before Iwaizumi had fully warmed up.  Iwaizumi gratefully accepted each pat on the back, happy birthday, and word of congratulations that was offered to him before his teammates returned to the court.  With a grin he went back to warming up making sure to get his right shoulder worked since he would apparently be hitting more today. 

An hour and a half later when they were all pleasantly tired and sweaty, Iwaizumi called the practice.  The cake was strategically maneuvered away from Bokuto’s eager gaze and instead moved into a storage unit in the locker rooms where it would stay until their last classes.  It was here that Iwaizumi realized how lucky they were to have Akaashi who could handle any and all of Bokuto’s moods, even if the former said he didn’t want to be the one in charge of their hyperactive ace. 

They tore down the net and collected all the volleyballs into their designated carts before sweeping and mopping the floor of the gym.  Only after the gym was cleaned and ready for the badminton team to use did they make their way to the showers.  There was nothing worse than going to class sweaty after practice and stinking like seaweed and sweat.  The water was at least warm today as opposed to the lukewarm near cold temperature it was normally at.  Happy birthday to Iwaizumi. 

“Iwaizumi-san,” Akaashi called as they shampooed their hair.

“Yeah?”

“About the game next month…”

“I know,” Iwaizumi sighed, “I’ll figure something out.”

One of their players, Kyoutani, had been barred from practice for almost two months now, which included games.  Makki had been bumped up on the starting line to cover the wing spiker place and their success rate had also shot up. Kyoutani was a handful, a good earnest player, but a handful.  He was uncooperative, stubborn, and wasn’t afraid to speak his mind no matter how nasty the thought.  He was full of raw talent but it was hard for a setter like Akaashi to work with.  Kyoutani wasn’t someone who would sit back and accept a toss going to another player if he thought he could make the spike, which was nearly one hundred percent of the time.  Iwaizumi could generally keep him in check but he was only one man and had a whole team to lead as well.  The problem was, Kyoutani would be expecting his spot back in the starting lineup but Iwaizumi and more importantly their coach, wasn’t going to give it to him.  Iwaizumi had to figure out some way to tell the other this when he came back to practice, sometime in the next week, and still survive it himself.     

“Thank you.” 

Akaashi’s voice was quiet over the sound of the showers.  Most of it was overshadowed with the sound of someone getting snapped with a towel but Iwaizumi knew what he said.  Iwaizumi nodded his acceptance of the thanks and washed the shampoo from his hair before shutting off the water and grabbing his own towel.  With one drastic death glare at Mattsun, who was winding up his towel to snap Kindaichi, Iwaizumi stopped the fight before it started. Mattsun merely shrugged his indifference and grabbed his bathing kit before walking behind Iwaizumi towards the lockers where they could change into their day clothes. 

“You don’t have plans after school right?” Mattsun asked as he dried off, rubbing the towel over his shoulders.

“Define plans,” Iwaizumi grumbled because what he had in mind consisted of plans to _him_ but he knew to the team, sitting on the beach and trying to gather up the courage to get in the water was _not_ actually plans.   

“Great you’re free,” Mattsun carried on while pulling a shirt over his head, “you’re coming with us to Mike’s Bar then.”

“No.”

“I’ll meet you outside your last class.  We’ll cut cake, sing and all to satisfy Bokuto-san, and then we’ll all head to the bar.”

“ _No_ ,” Iwaizumi reiterated.

“I’ll let your mom know you’ll be coming home late,” Makki said as he came around the corner holding Iwaizumi’s cell phone.

“The hell you- _hey,_ ” Iwaizumi lunged for his phone. 

Makki laughed and skipped out of Iwaizumi’s reach while Mattsun backed him up by pulling Iwaizumi back over to where he had been standing before.  He could hear the sound of Makki typing out the message and Iwaizumi flipped around to face Mattsun.  His eyebrows were drawn low over his eyes and his lips in a tight frown.  He jerked his arm from Mattsun’s grip, pleased when the other put his palms out in defense; at least he looked irritated enough to warrant cautious behavior.

“Why the hell do I have to go to some shitty bar with you guys?” Iwaizumi snapped.  He didn’t really want to go sit in a room full of annoying college students trying to drink off Monday blues.  He just wanted to go sit on the beach, alone.

“You need to get out more,” Mattsun stated, “We’ve all noticed, you know.” 

“Noticed _what_?” Iwaizumi asked exasperated as he pulled his pants on, “ _Makki give me my phone._ ”

“You’re distancing yourself from us,” Mattsun said as he pulled his towel over his hair, rubbing it dry.

“I am _not_ -,”

“-maybe not intentionally,” Makki said coming around the corner with his phone while Kunimi walked past, going to his own locker, with a nod of his head, “but you have to admit you spend a lot of time on the beach now lost in thought.”

“That doesn’t have anything to do with you guys,” Iwaizumi snapped, taking his phone. 

“Stop putting him on the defensive,” Akaashi sighed while moving around them to access his own locker next to Iwaizumi’s, “What they mean to say, Iwaizumi-san, is that whether or not you realize it you’re spending more and more time wallowing in your past alone than you are with friends.  You struggle with the concept of not suffering alone and often forget that we are also here to support you.  It’s rude.” 

“Yeah _rude_ ,” Bokuto echoed from somewhere in the room.

“And therefore,” Akaashi continued louder over the echo of Bokuto’s voice, “We are taking you out on your birthday so you can relax a little and maybe if we’re lucky, remember that you do in fact have friends willing to support you.” 

Iwaizumi was at a loss for words.  He wasn’t sure how to combat Akaashi’s calm words in a way that would get him out of going to the bar tonight.  He was also unsure of how much time had passed since he had actually done something with his team aside from volleyball related events.  Even at Kunimi’s birthday party he had skipped out on the later half, which would take place outside of the school grounds, to go home under the pretense of school work.  It hadn’t really been a lie but it _was_ a kind of shitty thing to do.  It was upon that realization that the shame started to settle in.  Akaashi was right, he had been avoiding them all and for what?  He wasn’t even sure. 

“Yeah…okay you’re right.” 

The surprised faces and raised eyebrows from everyone near him told him they were expecting more of a fight from him.  Bokuto’s whooped holler of excitement followed by Kindaichi’s irritated mumbling told him that they had been looking forward to this more than he knew.  He had been a horrible friend to them. 

“Sure, Mike’s then,” Iwaizumi sighed heavily.

“I’m still meeting you outside your last class,” Mattsun said with a sniff, “I don’t trust you that much.”

Iwaizumi snorted and accepted the comment with a shake of his head.  That was probably the right move, there was no telling how Iwaizumi would feel after all of his classes.  Not to mention how would feel after failing the test he had in 20 minutes.  He still hadn’t studied.  He ignored the rest of the comments from his teammates and started to pull his shirt and jacket on before grabbing his bag.  Maybe he could do some last minute cramming before the exam.  If he was lucky the classroom would be quiet enough to concentrate in as opposed to its usual rowdy state.

“Well I’m off to cram for a test then,” Iwaizumi sighed. 

“Don’t fail out of class,” Makki whined, “We’ll have to pick a new captain.”

“Shut up,” Iwaizumi snorted, “I won’t fail the class.” 

He was all too aware of the repercussions of failing a class and since the only reason he came to college was to play volleyball, there was no way he’d actually fail the class itself.  D’s did get degrees after all.  Something told him his team understood that too as they were giving him sad sighs and wiping away fake tears while dramatically leaning on Akaashi for support as Iwaizumi left the locker room with a shake of his head. 

He walked across campus and made it to his class with ten minutes to spare.  Ten minutes to cram as much information in as he could.  He was absolutely screwed. The ten minutes of tensed silence and frantic studying from him and everyone else in the class hadn’t nearly been enough time.  He had only understood half of the questions on the exam and was only thankful that it was multiple choice because Iwaizumi wasn’t sure he could bullshit an answer on some of the bullshit that came out of mythology.  Why he would ever need to know anything about some goddess Atargatis?  It was just one of those filler classes that tricked companies into thinking you got a ‘well-rounded education’ when  in reality the school just wanted the enrollment fee for collection. 

He turned his test in early and left the classroom knowing that he and everyone else left in the classroom knew his marks would be low.  Although if he was lucky the curve would be good and he’d barely pass it.  Regardless, it was over now and all Iwaizumi wanted was  a coffee to recharge him from practice and _food_. 

The nearest Starbucks was a blessed minute from his current location on campus and he headed for that direction first.  The line was, of course, atrociously long and full of half asleep students whose chins rested heavily on their own chests with eyes half closed as they teetered in line.  The seats around the café were full of other students cramming for tests or doing homework but all of them were ingesting near damaging levels of caffeine.  Iwaizumi couldn’t wait to be one of them.

“That’s right, just off of the private ports on the South side of the island.” 

His attention was caught by the two girls conversing near him, the mention of his home area making him tune in.  They were leaned over their coffee cups seemingly gossiping but their drawn on eyebrows-definitely city slickers- were furled in worry and instead of the usually pursed shape of lips that Iwaizumi had come to associate with girl gossip, they were down-turned in unease.  The red-head on the left kept biting at her lip and the situation screamed private to him but he couldn’t help but keep listening. 

“I heard from my dad that the wreckage just washed in like half an hour ago.” 

Wreckage?  It wasn’t uncommon for pieces of ships to wash up on shore occasionally, especially since they were in the middle of storm season.  Most ships or competent captains would have taken their crews off of the sea a month ago.  Only the most experienced captains went out to get fish for the market around this time of year and their ships were sturdy enough to survive the weather they had been having.  So wreckage at this point was just plain strange.

“Get this, they think it’s _the_ Aoba Johsai.” 

Iwaizumi’s blood ran cold and he was suddenly very much awake without the aid of coffee beans and hot water.  The Aoba Johsai was his _father’s_ ship.  His father who hadn’t been on shore for years, who hadn’t sent a single post card, whom they only believed to be alive because of their own hope.  His father’s ship which had only become famous due to its sudden disappearance was now rumored to have washed up? Shipwrecked? 

His legs were moving before he had ever finished processing all of that.  He bent down and pressed the palms of his hands against the girls shoulders, startling her.  She jumped turning under his strong grip and looked as if she were ready to scream when he spoke over her, “Where did you get that information?”

“Wh-who _are_ you? Let go!”  She scrambled to get to her feet making noise and causing eyes to wander their way.  It was enough to remind Iwaizumi that he didn’t know this girl and they were in a very public area.

“Sorry,” he said quickly and removing his hands as her friend stood, “but that ship belongs to my father.  Where did you get that information?”

She looked skeptical and more than happy to leave and never look back at him but her friend seemed to take pity on him because she stepped forward and hesitantly met his eyes.  Her limbs were tense and she seemed ready to bolt at any given movement so Iwaizumi made sure to stay very still despite wanting to throttle her for a quicker answer. 

“Lil’s dad works for the harbor communication’s team,” she started, eyes darting to her friend, “they got the call and he thought Lil would want to know since she runs a blog about the ship.”

“What port?” Iwaizumi asked curtly.  If her dad was a part of the communications team then it was legit and his dad could either be okay or…well, _not_ okay. 

“Um, Lil?”  She turned to her friend who had calmed down but still seemed reluctant to step closer to Iwaizumi.

“Some private port just a ten or so minute walk from the Akiramon train station but-.” 

Iwaizumi didn’t even break out a thank you or listen to the rest of her sentence, he just took off running. That was his station.  His ports.  His family.  His _father_. 

He never caught the warning about the storm.

The rain hit when he was halfway to his stop, pinging off of the train and running down the windows.  Steadily it grew in strength and with it came wind.  The train slowed drastically when the wind picked up and Iwaizumi hoped that it wouldn’t have to come to a stop to keep from being derailed.  It already seemed to be crawling along the tracks making Iwaizumi’s jiggling leg speed up and as they _finally_ approached Akiramon Station. He shoved his phone and other items from his pockets inside of his waterproof bag and then shoved that bag inside his backpack.  He stood by the doors and pulled his pass card out. 

He darted from the train as soon as the doors opened, ignoring all announcements to be cautious in this weather, as he slammed his pass down on the wicket scanner and hustled to the one exit the station had.  He took the stairs in twos already getting wet from the rain that was pouring down.  As he cleared the cement walls of the exit, the wind hit him full force, shaking his balance and nearly making him fall.  He had to learn to lean significantly right before he was steady enough to run in the hard wind.  His clothes were soaked through in a matter of seconds and logically he knew it was the stupidest thing he could be doing; going out to the shoreline in a storm like this, but he was doing it anyway. 

Getting to the site took more time than Iwaizumi thought it would, he had to fight through wet sand, flying debris, and the wind suddenly changing direction and knocking him to the ground. He was wet and coated in sand but he was _finally_ finding wreckage.  A long piece of wood half buried in the sand, something heavy and metal that wasn’t being moved by the wind.  He didn’t recognize it as part of the ship so he assumed it would be a personal affect or something. 

“DAD?!” Iwaizumi yelled, chest aching with the effort to project his voice but in the end it was lost to the wind.  Even so, Iwaizumi kept calling.  Kept screaming. Kept hoping. 

But something was wrong.  More wrong than Iwaizumi being the only human on the sand, more wrong than the way seaweed kept smacking him in the face., more so than the way that Iwaizumi had been landlocked for the past few years. The pieces of ship he was finding weren’t like his fathers.  The wood too dark, and maybe it was the water staining it but even so Iwaizumi had spent more than half of his life on that ship.  He should be able to recognize it but it looked so very wrong.  How long had it been since Iwaizumi had been anywhere near a ship?  Maybe it was a fault on his part. For not being strong enough to overcome a silly fear.      

He was close to the water now, truly a stupid thing to be doing and a dangerous place to be but he hadn’t found his father yet.  He hadn’t found _anyone._   While it was true that the rescue team might have already been out and done their job, Iwaizumi didn’t have enough faith in the team for that.  He knew how slow things were when it came to getting things done on this side of the island where things were still traditional.  Where there weren’t as many city slicker luxuries with high powered electric functioning devices.  Where the people spoke with a strange twang and where most of the residents were looked down on for being native. He had no faith in a rescue team here.  So Iwaizumi searched for them trying to peer out into the water to see _something_.

The sight was hazy due to the sheets of rain pounding down at a diagonal slicing across his vision but he thought he saw something dark floating in the water.  His heart pounded in his chest making it ache, what if it was his dad?  He called out to it, vocals straining but nothing.  It merely floated along being pulled, pushed, and churned by the mixing currents of that the storm and docks brought.  The familiar trembling of his limbs took over when Iwaizumi realized he needed to go in the water.  Screw logic, screw danger, to hell with knowing that going in the sea mid storm could literally end his life.  That could be his father out there!

But he couldn’t move. He only trembled and stared unblinking at the floating dark lump in the water, not even reacting as his bag fell from his shoulder onto the ground.  The longer he looked the longer it looked like hair.  The more it looked human.  Then it looked just as if it had moved, facing upwards and Iwaizumi squinted through the sheets of rain straining to see.  The color changed from dark to a lighter shade.  A shade like skin and Iwaizumi’s legs were moving before he could think about fear, before he could think about a Siren’s song or anything unknown in the water.  His legs carried him on habit, onto the docks.  Over the water.  It wasn’t better for a view and it was infinitely more dangerous to enter water here as the undercurrents of the water were more likely to pull him down and turn him around the sharp rocks hidden under water and seaweed. 

Yet, he couldn’t bring himself to move past the halfway point of the dock.  Not forward nor backward.  He was stuck in an infinite loop of heart pounding, limb shaking, mental anguish.  Get in. Try to save his dad.  Because Iwaizumi was convinced it was a person.  It had to be. Get in. Save them. Stay out. Stay safe. Jump in. Go _home_.  He couldn’t get his brain to chose one.  He couldn’t bring himself to go out.  Not even in a desperate situation where someone’s life was on the line.

So he stood there soaked to the bone and shaking trying to think, trying to process past the rush of blood and wind in his ears.  Past the fear of the song and he managed to turn his head to the side to see where a long pole with a net and a life buoy were secured to the railing of the dock.  He grabbed them both acting on pure panic and instinct before running to the edge of the dock and flinging the netting out like he did as a child when trying to catch bugs in the grassy areas around the playground by the station, practicing for the days when he’d be allowed to throw for real on his dad’s ship.  The wind caught the netting on the first shot, nearly ripping it from his hands.  He was fortunate enough to be blessed with the dexterity and grip strength of an ace player and was able to keep the netting for a second try, which also failed. 

He took up the life buoy and tossed it hard into the wind.  He watched it arch and curve, bent by the winds will but still it missed its target by a few feet.  A good throw but not good enough.  So he went back to the net.  Trying and failing to get near the floating mass which sometimes disappeared underwater and made his heart drop.  Iwaizumi was absolutely convinced that it was a person, a real living person who was caught after a shipwreck and struggling.  He knew the feeling too well. With a frustrated yell he flung the netting back into the water again, reeling it in with the pole when it didn’t catch.  Three more times, two more times, and finally he caught the object.

“Just hold on!”  He was screaming trying to be heard over the roar of the wind that pushed him and made him stumble on the swaying dock. 

He pulled the netting in until he realized that pulling a tired victim in towards the docks was probably the worst thing he could do.  The current was already bad from the storm but it would be worse under the lift of the docks if they ended up getting swept in.  Even if the dock wasn’t more than five feet from the surface of the water it still had a drastic effect on the water.  Iwaizumi knew from experience.

 He was running out of options, the pole wasn’t long enough for him to keep holding onshore and if he let the netting sit for too long it would shift too much and he’d lose the person.  He didn’t really have a choice at this point so he kept pulling the netting in until he could lean over the dock and wait for the water to swell before grabbing the thick dark substance.  He yanked hard and a heavy lump of thick wet seaweed plopped into his lap.   

“Are you _fucking kidding me_?”  Iwaizumi cursed feeling more and more like a moron as each second passed.  He looked over the edge of the dock again to see the netting and something still trapped in it.  Not a person but more wood.  He retrieved the netting, carelessly piling it onto the dock before he flopped down backward, chest heaving and limbs quivering from the cold and exertion that he had just gone though.  All of that effort for seaweed?  He couldn’t stop the swell of angry tears in his eyes. 

Where was his dad?

It was when the water swelled to wash up on the dock that Iwaizumi knew he needed to get up.  He needed to stand up and get to his house.  He had been stupid for long enough it was clear that if there was anyone out there before they were either dead or saved previously by the crews that may or may not have come.  Regardless Iwaizumi couldn’t do anything about it now, he was far too tired to pull in the netting again let alone the weight of another person. 

He found himself grabbing at the wood instead of getting up, bringing the pieces up to his face.  They looked so wrong.  Too dark to be colored just from the water almost as if they had been painted black before being sun damaged into a lighter shade of grey.  He looked at the other lighter pieces and saw flecks of yellow still coating the side and knew this wasn’t his father’s ship which had no yellow whatsoever on it.  It was his father’s least favorite color.  Iwaizumi had been lured in by the sweet temptations of rumors and his own blind hope.  Not that it had been the first time. 

He rolled onto his side, utterly exhausted, as the water swelled again touching his limbs and making him freeze automatically in fear.  He was so _close_ to the water.  Hell he had just dug his hand in it earlier without thought.  Maybe later he would be proud of the accomplishment but for the moment only fear struck his head.  It was instinctual and instant making his muscles lock and struggle to support his weight when he physically could not move.  Not that he didn’t try but  it ended with him biffing his face on the dock as another swell of water rushed over his feet. 

Did he even remember how to swim? Doubtful.

He dug his fingernails into his palm and forced his legs to move but between the swells, the wind, and his own stupidity he really had no chance. The netting that he had hazardously left lying around was carried by the swells tangling over his legs before the weighted ends slipped right over the edge.   Panicked, Iwaizumi tried to pull his legs back and untangle them but his hands were too cold to have any force behind them, his muscles too weak to properly protest.  When he tried to stand his legs tripped and tangled over the netting and Iwaizumi too slipped over the edge of the dock.  His head cracked against something hard making his jaw close down over the inside of his cheek. 

He hit the water and blacked out.


	2. Greetings and Salutations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Because Iwaizumi's life can never be simple, can it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to thank you all for sticking around and reading and I'd also like to thank inspiringanna for seeking me out and taking on task of betaing Take Me Down. She's really fantastic and I hope to keep working with her in the future! We are going to try and do tri-weekly updates but life does happen so please understand if we don't get updates out on time.  
> Thank you!
> 
> Note:  
> Gooseflesh is a regional term for goosebumps

“Hey…hey… _jeeze_ wake up already.”

Iwaizumi obeyed the command on instinct, his mind blank of everything but those words. Until he realized his was practically face down in wet sand, and that it was _in his mouth_.  For a moment he thought that he must have fallen asleep on the beach again and Makki had probably found him, as per their strange unspoken routine.  Although, as soon as the thought occurred to him, he registered the pain reverberating through his body.

His head was pounding, limbs weak and stiff; he was cold, and his throat ached.  He dragged his arms through the sand groaning, trying to remember exactly what had happened after he had pulled up that miserable mass of seaweed.  He recalled the netting tangling up in his legs and then being tugged down with a tall wave.  His body automatically startled at the memory of falling the five feet between the water and dock.  Had he hit something on the way down?  It certainly felt like it…

“You’re so _mean_!”  A voice cried, sounding extremely put out. 

Iwaizumi dragged his heavy body up, spitting sand from his mouth as he looked over his shoulder at the person there. It wasn’t anyone that he had ever seen before.  Short brown hair that flipped up at the ends despite being thoroughly soaked in water.  Big caramel eyes set into a smooth face marred by a big purple and yellow bruise. A long pale neck and long arms stretched forward bearing the weight of the other as their hands pressed into the sand.  They weren’t wearing a shirt and he could see where their hip’s creamy color dissolved into shades of blue and green, filling out into a beautiful tail. 

It was then that Iwaizumi processed _what_ he was looking at.  He could only describe his instant fear as a completely overwhelming force screaming at him to survive.  It overtook his body, traveling from his chest and radiating down to his toes before shooting up and through his head as if it had physically left his body and slammed back into the already throbbing area.  He wasn’t sure if he had screamed or if the sound died in his throat, only that _something_ cracked against his vocal cords.  Controlled by pure instinct, his hands flew up and slapped the sides of his head so hard he saw dots.  Whether or not it would be effective against something like a siren song he didn’t know, but it was better than nothing. 

“There you go being mean again!”  The creature huffed pulling its tail up to curl inwards for more support allowing it to point a finger at Iwaizumi, whose heart began racing at the realization that he could still hear the creature over the roar of blood in his ears.  His hands had done virtually nothing, panic settling in his stomach— his only option was to get away, but as the thumping in his chest grew more erratic, all he could do was stare in horror.  His limbs were too heavy to move, shaking hands fixed over his ears his mind too much in a blind panic, too frozen to function. 

“ _Don’t_.”  Iwaizumi’s warning was pathetic.  It cracked in his throat and made him feel like a child again, vulnerable and with no way to protect himself.

“Look, there’s no need to be such a scaredy cat— I’m not a _siren_ okay,” The creature said indignantly, finger trained on Iwaizumi, “I’m a _mermaid_ and _yes_ there _is_ a difference!”

“Don’t.”  His voice was stronger this time but his shaking limbs and the useless hands still pressed against his ears betrayed his fear.

“Do you even speak Human?  You’re a human right?” The creature scoffed and puffed its cheeks out in a childish attempt to look offended, “C’m _on_ your language is really hard and I’m _trying_ to be civil unlike a certain _someone_.”

It lowered the hand that was pointing at him back down to the sand and Iwaizumi could only watch in a sort of horrified fascination as the powerful muscles in its tail contracted and worked to move the creature over the sand and towards Iwaizumi where it draped it’s upper half over his legs; tail flopping in the sand as it got comfortable with his arms folded over Iwaizumi’s hips. 

“So what’s your name?” The mermaid asked after a moment of awkward silence.

Iwaizumi felt his breath catch in his throat while his legs twitched far too late in an attempt to initiate some sort of movement. He recognized needing to get away but the mermaid was heavy and his legs were not listening to the panicked messages his brain was sending out. Trying to pull his legs underneath him to get up and run was useless as he couldn’t will his weak limbs to use the necessary amount of power needed to yank them free of the mermaids weight.  The feeling of utter terror stuck to him like the soreness in his muscles; he was trapped looking at curious brown eyes and and wet yet swoopy hair hoping that today wouldn’t be the day he died.

Although, if it was his last day at least his last sight wasn’t horrible— not that a pretty face could take away from the fact that a half-fish would have won after all the years he spent fighting against their song.  He could feel his legs trembling in time with his arms which finally gave into the steadily loss in strength, falling to his sides where his hands dug into the sand. 

He tried to concentrate on something concrete in a desperate attempt to calm down. Like how the fresh water soaking into him was much warmer than the water he was already drenched in from his unplanned plunge as it was warmed from the mermaids body.  A mermaid…siren?  He could only dumbly shake his head trying— and failing, to not hyperventilate as breath wheezed in and out of his lungs.

“You’re really weird,” the mermaid said as it languidly reached over and pinched Iwaizumi’s nose shut.

He panicked at the touch and tried to kick out but couldn’t get his legs up under the creatures weight so instead he frantically pushed his palm out with all his remaining strength.  He felt it crack against the mermaids nose, his hand warming under the instant flow of bright red blood.  As soon as he heard a yelp of pain some of the weight on his legs let up as the creature had recoiled from the hit.  _‘It was enough’_ he thought, he could move. He harnessed the adrenaline rushing through him to tug his heavy legs free as the mermaid curled in on itself with both hands pressed against its face.

“ _Wait_!” 

The word was garbled with pain and some strange accent that Iwaizumi had never heard before but he wasn’t about to ‘wait’.  He had finally gotten his feet under him and even though the world swayed around him he dug his toes into the sand ready to push off.  His ankle was grabbed before he could, throwing off his balance and sending him careening towards the sand.

Only years of volleyball falls saved him from landing on his face; his hands coming up reflexively to catch him. He rolled onto his side and tried to kick out but the mermaid was stronger than he had thought and managed to catch his ankle, stopping the attack.  With a sharp tug Iwaizumi was dragged across the sand towards the mermaid and his legs were once again tucked back under the weight of the creature. 

It was over in seconds and no matter how hard he tried to wiggle, push or fight his way out he lost in strength every time.  His body had taken too much of a beating with all of the physical exertion he put it through. With the addition of idiotically being out in a storm and presumably passing out during it, he wasn’t surprised that his muscles had nothing to offer him.

“Why are you so _mean_? I just want to talk!” 

The mermaid was whining while pulling on Iwaizumi’s hips, tucking him more securely under its heavy weight while pathetically trying to sniff up the blood running from its nose.  It looked like it had been greatly wronged as it wiggled itself into comfort.  Unfortunately it’s comfort meant that each time Iwaizumi was pulled down, sand slid between his shirt and skin sticking to him, creating an unbearable itch. 

“Let--,” he never got to finish his sentence as the mermaid interjected and complained over him, ignoring the push of Iwaizumi’s hands against its arms.

“--After I went _out of my way_ to save you from certain _death_ , this is how you repay me?  Are all humans this rude now? _I_ wasn’t the idiot out in the middle of a storm trying to catch _seaweed—_ no, that was _you_.  I wasn’t the one who was stupid enough to collapse on a plank of fragile wood.  But I _was_ the one who was _kind_ enough and _amazing_ enough to think that _maybe_ I should be the one to ‘save the dumb human’.  I thought maybe you couldn’t actually get up so I thought I should be as so _kind_ and _wonderful_ as to help _you_ and you repay me by _falling_ off of said plank of wood and _falling on me_!  Rude!  Then to chalk it all up you are _mean_ to me when I just wanted to talk to you after dragging you to _shore_ and making sure you didn’t _drown_ — and you repay me by ruining my dashingly good looks with _blood_.  _Blood!_ And not to mention _I’m beached because of you_!  So the least you can do for starters is give me a polite and humble _Thank you Oikawa-san, your majesty, for saving my pathetic human life_ and then you can start doing me favors to repay me for the _blood you stole!_ “

  It looked genuinely put out and if its story was true, which as crazy as it seemed, Iwaizumi couldn’t find fault with it. It _had_ saved him.  He did remember falling from the dock and he didn’t recall anything after that so he _must_ have passed out. But he wasn’t completely sold with its story— Why would something like this creature save a human like him?  Siren or mermaid, either way they had a strange magic about them that Iwaizumi didn’t fully understand.  Who knew what the mermaid could actually do.  

He only half listened at the mermaid’s continued whining, he couldn’t tell if the tears beading up in its eyes were from pain or the the emotion of seemingly being wronged.  The look was coupled with a rather large pout on full lips, tinged red with blood as the mermaid was still trying to stop the nosebleed by pathetically pushing the palm of its hand on the underside of its nose all while _still_ talking. 

 “You have to pinch it,” Iwaizumi heard himself say over the roar of his own heartbeat.  His throat hurt, just talking felt as if he were swallowing blades.  Screaming in the storm for so long and actually physically _being_ in the storm for so long had taken more than just a muscle toll on him.  Not to mention he had also passed out— Was it even the same day? 

“-and the _least_ you could do is tell me your _name_ but you’re too set on being _mean_ and-what?”  The mermaid’s focus shifted to him completely instead of trying to stop the nosebleed and complain leaving the mass of blood to drip freely onto Iwaizumi.

“H- _hey!_ ” He tried to jerk away from the trail of blood but was still pinned in place, “I _said_ you have to pinch it, idiot.”  His irritation overrode any form of logic that crawled through his head telling him not to say anything. He reached up without thinking and copied the mermaids earlier actions of pinching the bridge of his nose. 

“That _hurts_!” 

“Shut up,” Iwaizumi grit out, “Do you ever _stop_ talking?” 

His irritation at the creature’s behavior was starting to outweigh his panic. After all he was still alive, so maybe he would stay that way.  It seemed like the mermaid had more of an interest in complaining like a child and trying to make Iwaizumi indebted to him rather than dragging him to the bottom of the ocean.  Besides, judging by their completely soaked bodies and his own vague memories he really had fallen in the ocean and passed out there.  If the mermaid really wanted him dead and for dinner wouldn’t it have just taken him then?

“Mean! I _saved_ you!  You should be grateful!”

“I didn’t ask you to!” Iwaizumi snapped back, his fingers pinching harder, and in turn the mermaid let out a cry of pain. It pouted and picked at Iwaizumi’s drenched shirt, downcast.

“The least you could do is tell me your name,” It grumbled.

“Iwaizumi,” he said grudgingly.  He stared it in the eye, stomach flip flopping the whole time, but he waited out the awkward silence that followed as the mermaid waited for his first name, which he didn’t have any intention to give. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like the mermaid understood that he wasn’t going to indulge him so he carried on, “Why did you save me?”

“That’s your name?” the mermaid looked half pleased but also like it was focusing hard to figure something out, “That’s hard to say…”

“It is not,” Iwaizumi huffed and dropped his hand away from the mermaids face as it seemed as though the bleeding had stopped.  He was a little uncomfortable touching the mermaid for so long anyway, “Why did you save me?  I thought sirens or mermaids or whatever ate humans…”

“I already _told_ you I’m not a siren and there’s a _difference_!”  It looked offended as it pouted down at him with low eyebrows and crossed arms, “What’s your first name.  Your last one is too hard, I can’t say it.”

Tricky little mermaid wasn’t it.  Iwaizumi wouldn’t fall for it.

“Iwaizumi isn’t hard,” he protested, “What’s the difference?”

“It is too!” The mermaids tail flopped in emphasis against the sand sending up a shower of grain that made Iwaizumi throw his arm in front of his face trying to block any from getting in his eyes.  Not that it mattered, he was coated in it anyway. 

“Jesus, _fine_ it’s hard but you’re going to have to learn it because you’re not getting my first name!” Iwaizumi snapped as he pushed at the mermaid’s chest and wiped the sand from his face. “God, what are you, two?” 

“Excuse you, I’m _much_ more mature than a fingerling, okay.”  The mermaid’s neck twitched as if it were trying to toss long hair out of its face.  The motion made it seem haughty and Iwaizumi found his eyes rolling automatically.

“Sure you are.”

“Are all humans this rude?!” 

“Yeah, so go away,” Iwaizumi said deadpan as he gestured to the ocean water which was now much more calm as the storm had fully passed.  It glimmered with the colors of the setting sun and reminded Iwaizumi that he actually had missed out on a huge part of the day by coming here.  The team would be pissed.

“I will not!” The mermaid scoffed, “You _owe_ me, Iwaizooome.”  The attempt of looking threatening completely fell through with the horrible pronunciation of Iwaizumi’s name.  It had him laughing, hands closing over his sides and tears rushing to his eyes. The deep laughing made his muscles clench and his throat ache.  He wanted a hot bath.

“How come your pronunciation on everything else sounds fine but you can’t say one _common_ name?”  Iwaizumi snickered.

“Shut up! Human is a hard language to speak okay!  There are too many dialects!”

“I don’t think it’s a dialect problem,” Iwaizumi snorted as the human face looking down at him deepened the pout that seemed permanently etched onto its face.

“You’re so mean,” the mermaid pouted crossing it’s arms over Iwaizumi’s chest and leaning its bloody chin on its arms, “Tell me your first name.”

“Explain the difference between sirens and mermaids,” Iwaizumi demanded, “Or let me up.”

“No you’ll just run away!”

“I will,” Iwaizumi confirmed.

 The mermaid sighed as though it has grown tired of Iwaizumi’s questions and attitude, like it hadn’t just ranted for minutes about how great it was and how unfair it was that Iwaizumi was being _human_.  It brushed some sand from its arm revealing small stray scales embedded in its skin, glinting green and cyan in the light of the setting sun.  It cleaned off its arms until the sand was more or less gone, it turned its piercing gaze back to Iwaizumi, waiting for the information it wanted.  Iwaizumi didn’t intend to let it have it.

“Fine, I’ll just have to assume you’re the same.” Iwaizumi said while bringing his hands back up to his ears, remembering how much it had irritated the mermaid before.

“Siren songs are set to brainwash for death, mermaids aren’t,” the mermaid snapped with a look of annoyance on its face as it lunged to push Iwaizumi’s hands into the sand and preventing him from covering his ears, “We’re more suited for comfort and good feelings.  Not that we can’t do the other stuff but it doesn’t come as easily.”

“You could have just said that in the first place.” Iwaizumi said.  He tried wiggling his arms free, uncomfortable with how helpless his current position was with both legs and arms pinned, but the mermaid was strong. He felt like a 17 year old again, helpless to the immense will of the beings around him.  Like one wrong misstep and he’d be dragged back down.

The thought of the event made his heart race and he had to remind himself how to keep his breathing in check.  To first suck in the air slowly and hold it in his chest for a full three seconds before letting it shake out of his lungs for another seven.  The noticeably exaggerated breaths were mandatory to keep the panic of the past at bay as he was determined to stay present while in the presence of this creature. He wasn’t going to come out of this in any other state but _alive_. 

“It’s not as fun,” the mermaid huffed, head tilting and eyes narrowing as it observed Iwaizumi.

“How unfortunate,” Iwaizumi huffed tugging his arms harshly against the mermaids weight.

“…You’re weird,” the mermaid said for the second time with a scrunched nose.  It pulled its weight off of Iwaizumi’s arms and lied back down on him before scraping its fingernails against the mess on its face.

“Yeah,” Iwaizumi mumbled as he looked at the mermaid lying on his chest picking away at the drying blood on its face, tail leisurely twitching in the sand, “Weird.”

“Now tell me your name since I so _graciously_ gave you an answer!”

 “You haven’t even told me _your_ name,” Iwaizumi huffed, “it’s a common courtesy to give your name after someone else has introduced themselves.”

“Oikawa,” the mermaid said with a cracked bloody smile, “Tooru. Now tell me your first name!”

Iwaizumi rolled his eyes feeling like the conversation would only repeat itself if he replied so he took the time to observe the mermaid a little more.  He looked past the cute human face with the button nose and the toned human torso and arms to look at how skin turned into speckled lumps of scales unevenly distributed over Oikawa’s waist line.  They interlaced into one solid mass covering the tail there, starting as a light spring green color at his waist before gradually covering over shades of a blueish green that Iwaizumi was pretty sure he’d never seen before.  It darkened the rest of the way, until it turned completely deep blue at the fin. 

Sunlight from the last rays of light glittered off of the scales and every time the mermaid shifted its tail the muscles rippled and made the scales shimmer with movement and light.  It appeared to be a liquid in that form, moving and blending colors over the length of the tail. There were sections of fin that weren’t covered in scales but were still deeply colored.  He brought his eyes up to see scales were also scattered about its forearms that were pressing into Iwaizumi’s stomach as his shirt had been pushed up when he was dragged across the sand. They were warm.  As his gaze continued traveling over the mermaids insanely long neck, Iwaizumi felt questions burning in his aching throat.

Did mermaids not need to be immersed in water?  Would it dry up?  Why wasn’t it eating him?  Were all mermaids so whiny and childish? Why was it here? How old was it? He wondered what the point in having a few scales scattered about the forearms was.  Then he noticed the lack of anything gill like.

“How do you breathe?” Iwaizumi asked ignoring the fact that the mermaid was grinning smugly as if he knew that Iwaizumi had been observing him and thinking considerably positive things about him.

“With my lungs, Iwaizoome,” Oikawa said plainly as if it were obvious, Iwaizumi snorted.

“I mean in the water…don’t you need like gills?”  He asked while his hands hovered around his own neck moving in small circles.

“If you want to ask more questions you have to tell me your first name!” Oikawa winked.

“Then let me go home,” Iwaizumi said as he pushed his hips up trying to dislodge the heavy weight of a tail. 

“Okay, but you have to take me too!”

“No!”

“You _owe_ me Iwaizoome.”

“It’s Iwai _zumi_!”

“It’s _hard_ ,” Oikawa whined, “And you have to pay me back and I want to see what humans life like now!  So you’ll take me too!”

“You’ll have to drag yourself across the sand before I ever willingly take you to my home,” Iwaizumi sneered back and Oikawa scoffed, offended.

“I’ll just grow legs, Iwaizoome, rude.”

Iwaizumi stilled— Was that even possible?  Could a fish half become a human half?  He looked doubtfully at Oikawa’s tail and raised his eyebrows in disbelief.  No way.  His face must have given away all of his thoughts because Oikawa smugly rolled his eyes and brushed his bangs back with long fingers. He cleared his throat and moved his fingers down to brush away at the sand on Iwaizumi’s stomach before looking arrogantly at him.

“I’ll get changed and you go collect that trash bag you brought with you. I was even nice enough to keep it safe while you were passed out,” Oikawa gestured to his school bag which was a few feet away from them half buried in the sand with a giant rock on top of it.  It looked like the rock had been tossed on his bag from where they were and Iwaizumi turned back to look deadpan at Oikawa.

“If you broke my shit you’re paying to replace it.”  He said dully.  Oikawa continued over him as though he hadn’t spoken as he leaned in, pressing a sharp finger against Iwaizumi’s sternum and narrowing his eyes.

“If you leave without me then I will plague this island with bad luck Iwaizoome,” his voice was grave and low.  It was full of serious intent and despite Oikawa’s almost childish behavior up until now, the feeling of danger crawled up Iwaizumi’s spine. “I’ll trap you back in a storm so fast you won’t even have time to _breathe_.”

“I got it, just shut up and let me up,” Iwaizumi snapped in reflex as his skin broke out in gooseflesh and a cold sweat.

  He was actually more bothered by the threat than his words let on, something he was sure showed in the downturn twitching of his lips and the tremor in his limbs.  He didn’t doubt that it could be done, there were legends that mermaids and sirens often plagued the land with storms dangerous enough to wipe out entire populations when they were bored.  It was also told that if they were in a particularly creative mood they would set prosperity to the land, but Iwaizumi wasn’t as sure about those stories.  He wasn’t sure creatures like these were capable of spreading something as positive as prosperity.   

“Good.”  Then Oikawa shimmied off of him, rough scales catching on his clothes and pulling them until the threads were stretched.  Iwaizumi sighed, he needed new sweats anyway and he’d been saving for a new set for volleyball. 

With the loss of Oikawa’s heat, the cold instantly rushed over him. There were very few rays of sun remaining and the wind was cold by the water.  He broke out into a second set of goosebumps and shivers almost instantly.  His legs were numb from being trapped under Oikawa for so long so he had to wait for the blood to return before he could stand.  His balance was skewed and he wondered how hard he had hit his head, he might have to take a trip to the clinic if it persisted.  His muscles still _hurt_ and as he stood upright his head pounded.  He wanted a hot bath, a hot meal, and to be in _bed_ for the next month.  Except he had some weird ass situation on his hands now, and he had a feeling he wouldn’t be getting his wish. 

He pulled the water proof bag from his school bag and popped it open, relieved that the company’s claim the bag was waterproof was the truth and none of his electronics had been harmed.  His phone’s notification light was rapidly blinking, he wasn’t surprised.  There were 14 missed phone calls from various members from the team and more messages than he wanted to look at.  He opened the ones from Makki.

_[ Mattsun says you aren’t in your last class.  You can’t ditch us. ]_

_[ seriously where are you? ]_

_[Iwaizumi this isn’t healthy]_

_[are you really just going to ditch us?]_

_[IT’S YOUR BIRTHDAY]_

_[I’ll call your mom]_

Iwaizumi hoped he didn’t.  She’d worry.

 

_[okay what’s going on? you aren’t answering anyone’s messages]_

_[this isn’t like you]_

_[dude you have to talk to me. what’s going on????????]_

_[IT’S LITERALLY BEEN HOURS WHERE ARE YOU?}_

_[I called your mom she says you haven’t been home…]_

_[are you okay??? where are you?]_

_[Iwaizumi answer!  Where are you?]_

_[THIS ISN’T FUNNY]_

_[ARE YOU OKAY?]_

_[fucking call me]_

_[Jesus fucking Christ you better be okay]_

_[CALL ME!]_

_[You’re mom still hasn’t seen you?????]_

 

Iwaizumi sighed heavily and opened up a text reply, wondering for a moment if Makki would call him right away or allow him the bliss of not being yelled at over the phone. 

_[I’m okay…about to go home.  Sorry for making you worry.]_

Sure enough only seconds after the message sent his phone was ringing.  He sighed heavily and answered the call pressing the phone to his ear and waiting to get chewed out, but it never came; instead Makki sounded _scared_. Iwaizumi could barely hear him over the uproar in the background.  From what he could make out, it was the rest of his team yelling in the background asking if he was okay.  He had to ask Makki to repeat himself several times before the wing spiker was screaming at the team to “ _shut the fuck up,_ ” so he could hear.

_“Are you okay? Where are you?”_ Makki’s voice was strained with worry— so different from his normal teasing drawl that Iwaizumi’s stomach churned.

“I’m okay,” Iwaizumi sighed into the phone his head still pounding.

“ _You don’t sound okay at all.  Where. are you?”_

“I just hit my head on the docks or something.  I’m about to head home.”

“ _What the fuck are you doing at the docks during— you, you had another one of those weird attacks didn’t you.”_ The worry drained from Makki’s voice as he made his demand for information.  

 “Look Makki—“  Iwaizumi stopped and took a breath, he didn’t want to talk about anything siren related anymore, not even to Makki.

Ever since he had stupidly come out to the docks in a storm, Iwaizumi had been fighting off repressed memories which were threatening to surface in addition to the pressure of the songs temptation.  It would be pathetically easy to give in.  He hadn’t had an attack, not yet, but with the mermaids presence he was teetering over the border of past and present. To say that he hadn’t had one didn’t mean he _wouldn’t_ have one later when he wasn’t as alert, his guard would come crumbling down at some point, whether or not he wanted it to.  What he _needed_ was respite.  

This is what he was trying to tell Makki, but the other was off on his own pace now, it would be near impossible for Iwaizumi to correct everything with how tired he was and with how worked up the team sounded. So he let Makki lecture him, listening only halfway and hoping that he could deal with everything _later_. 

“ _Fuck you did?  Listen Iwaizumi-san you can’t just run off whenever one of these happens, you need to start coming to us to someone.”_

“Makki I’m tired,” Iwaizumi sighed, “Can we talk later?  I just want to sleep.”

“ _How badly are you hurt?  You said you hit your head?”_

“It’s fine really,” Iwaizumi protested, “I’m on my way home.”

“ _Are you alone?”_

“Uhh,” well he couldn’t say no to that.  He looked over his shoulder at Oikawa who he expected to still be on the ground but instead he was standing— on a pair of nice, long very _naked_ legs.  He looked completely unashamed with the way he had his hip cocked with his hands pressed on either side of his waist looking awfully proud of himself but Iwaizumi couldn’t help his outburst, “Why are you _naked_?!”

“ _What?_ ” Makki sounded lost in his ear while Oikawa scoffed in reply.

“What, you expected pants to just _materialize_ out of nowhere?”

“ _Iwaizumi who is that_?”

“I gotta go Makki,” Iwaizumi groaned.  He didn’t wait for the protest he knew was coming, hanging up instead.  He ignored Makki’s incoming phone call that came in as soon as he pulled the phone from his face and he ignored the texts from the team that flooded his phone by shoving it back in the water proof bag.  He tossed the whole thing in his school bag and dug around in it until he felt his spare wet volleyball shorts, pulling them out he beckoned to Oikawa. ”Put these on.”

“Ooh these are cool,” Oikawa cooed as he took the fabric, “Human clothing has really changed since the last time I came on land.”

“This is so _weird_ ,” Iwaizumi groaned. 

“It’s only weird if you make it weird, Iwaizoome,” Oikawa chirped as he went to put the shorts on.  He got one foot up halfway before he lost his balance and collapsed into the sand, and Iwaizumi couldn’t help the air escape from him in at the hilarity he had witnessed. “Don’t laugh at me!” 

Iwaizumi of course only roared louder with laughter.  It didn’t last long though, because his own legs were weak and his throat _ached_ with the strain of laughter.  He plopped gracelessly down on the ground next to Oikawa. He was going to be so sick for the next few days.  His mom would be livid. 

He ignored Oikawa’s taunts and instead showed the other how to pull the shorts on while sitting.  Oikawa’s nose crinkled as he discovered the absolute joy of having sand _everywhere_ no one wanted it to be, trapped by the shorts and the wetness of his skin.  Iwaizumi could relate. He was pretty sure every inch of him was covered in some sort of beach life.  Hell he wouldn’t be surprised if he went home and found a crab in the folds of his clothes.  It wouldn’t be the first time either.

“Wipe your face off,” Iwaizumi ordered, “I can’t take you to my house with a bloody face.”

“Why not?” Oikawa asked.

“Because my mom will worry, she’ll think something bad happened,” Iwaizumi said as he pulled out a soaked rag from his ruined school bag.  So much for the assignments he had to turn in for the day.  At last he had left his bigger electronics at home, he couldn’t imagine losing all the work on his laptop. 

“I can’t see where it is Iwaizoome,” Oikawa said with a sly grin, “You do it for me.”

“Do it yourself!” Iwaizumi snapped as he chucked the towel at Oikawa, pleased when it hit with a wet _plop_. 

“I can’t see,” Oikawa whined, “And it still hurts.”

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Iwaizumi groaned before he grabbed the towel.

 He began pressing away the dried blood from Oikawa’s face while the other seemed rather obsessed with running his long fingers over his legs, griping his ankles, squeezing the sections of his calves between his thumb and forefinger.  A grin on his face the whole time, even as he complained about Iwaizumi being too rough with him.

“I think Iwaizoome’s mom is going to think something bad happened anyway,” Oikawa said suddenly, his eyes roaming over Iwaizumi’s form.  Iwaizumi could only imagine what he looked like.

“Well, we can lessen the blow,” Iwaizumi shrugged.  He watched Oikawa pinch and pull at his own toes for a moment before returning to wiping away at the blood, “If mermaids can grow legs like this…why don’t you just live on land?”

“Nope,” Oikawa sang, “If you want answers to anymore questions you have to tell me your first name~”

Iwaizumi sighed heavily, this guy was persistent. It wasn’t that he minded Oikawa _knowing_ his first name but he did mind Oikawa _using_ it and Hajime was definitely easier to say than Iwaizumi so he _knew_ Oikawa would use it.  He didn’t even particularly like the guys on the volleyball team using his first name, and he had known them for nearly his whole life.  But he was curious and wanted answers…there had to be a compromise.

“What if I let you call me by a nickname instead?” Iwaizumi offered.

Oikawa seemed to think it over, face scrunching and making it impossible for Iwaizumi to clean anymore blood from his face so he just stuffed the rag back into his bag.  He stood up onto his shaking legs and offered a hand to the still thinking mermaid…boy…creature. Oikawa took it and grinned largely as he stood on legs that were slightly more steady than Iwaizumi’s. 

“Okay I agree!  I don’t know what to call you yet though so I’ll think on it!” Oikawa grinned charmingly and Iwaizumi nodded. 

It occurred to Iwaizumi, as they started off toward his house, that standing was all Oikawa was good for. As soon as he had to take a step he was off balance and would stumble against Iwaizumi, who didn’t have the power or balance to keep them both upright.  More than once, they fell in the sand and he realized that there was no need for him to wipe away all the blood on Oikawa’s face because at this rate they were going to biff it and get injured again.

They were just barely half way to his house when Oikawa started to get the hang of walking and was taking less tumbles and starting to pull ahead of Iwaizumi who was overcome with episodes of dizziness. It had been manageable on the beach front when he hadn’t been nearly as active or upright, but since they had started off towards his house it had been progressively worsening.  He wasn’t sure if something happened when he hit his head or if it was a symptom of storm exposure— or maybe both.  Honestly it could probably be both.

“Hang on, Oikawa,” Iwaizumi panted, holding a hand out and hanging his head down trying to reorient himself, “Wait a second.”

“What’s wrong?” Oikawa asked toes curling in the sand as he cocked his head to the side.

“I must have hit my head hard enough for a concussion,” Iwaizumi groaned, “I should probably go to a doctor or something.”

“Concussion…” Oikawa rolled the word around in his mouth a few more times before he seemed to grasp the meaning, “Oh! When you so rudely bashed your head against mine mid fall from your precious _dock_.”

“Okay, first of all,” Iwaizumi huffed, “It was an accident, secondly all you have is a bruise on your face.  Be grateful.”

“That’s because I’m not dumb,” Oikawa huffed and arrogantly added, “I can actually do something about internal injuries, unlike useless humans.”

“Great, good for you,” Iwaizumi sighed finally less dizzy than before, “if we’re so useless why don’t you just go back to the ocean?”

“Fine I _won’t_ help you,” Oikawa pouted, arms crossed.

“Bye,” Iwaizumi said with a wave as he shuffled along the sand trying to keep his balance.

“Iwaizoome if I leave you’ll have to suffer alone with your nasty personality!  Aren’t I _nice_ sticking around so my amazing presence can counteract yours!  If I wasn’t here you couldn’t bask in everything that is _me_! How sad is that?”

“On a scale of one to ten with ten the highest, zero,” Iwaizumi said flatly.

“Zero wasn’t even _on_ the scale!” Oikawa whined as he hurried to catch up to Iwaizumi, “But I suppose I’ll be nice just this once because I’m a _good_ person.”

“You aren’t even a person,” Iwaizumi sneered.

“I’m usually at least half a person!  Mean!”  Oikawa huffed as he moved around to duck in front of the cranky human.

“What are you _doing_?” Iwaizumi tried to back pedal as Oikawa pressed their foreheads together but the mermaid in disguise pressed his large hand on the back of his pounding head and held him in place. 

“Helping,” Oikawa said, “A little at least.” 

Then he was making a clear ethereal sound and Iwaizumi felt hot all over.  He instantly reached out to grip whatever part of Oikawa he could in an attempt to ground himself and keep his balance.  He felt like he was floating, his head was swimming with beautiful notes and general comfort.  His forehead was burning from where it was connected to Oikawa’s but where his hand was gripping the other’s shoulder was just warm from the contact between their skin.  And then the sound was fading away and he pulling away.  He looked more tired than before but Iwaizumi’s head wasn’t spinning so much anymore and he felt balanced. 

“What did you just do?” He hated that his voice was shaking.  The notes and feelings pushed onto him were far different from that of the siren’s but the knowledge of what that _was_ still struck the wrong cord with Iwaizumi.  Was there any permanent damage that he should be worried about?  He felt his heart racing.  Would he be affected by whatever Oikawa had just sung at him like he was with the sirens?  His breath stuttered.

“I just used Heart,” Oikawa shrugged, “It’s really not that big of a deal for us.”

“Well _don’t do it again,_ ” Iwaizumi snapped in panic, his heart racing and hands shaking.  Oikawa recoiled and a look of unmistakable hurt passed over his face, different from all the fake pouts he had been sporting on the beach.

“I was just trying to _help_ ,” he huffed before murmuring, “Ungrateful humans…”  

Guilt mixed with the panic in Iwaizumi’s chest as he observed genuine hurt on the other’s face.  Maybe he _had_ been trying to help but it didn’t change the fact it was strange and foreign to Iwaizumi, and it hit far too close to his unpleasant past for any sort of comfort.  But Oikawa didn’t know that.

Iwaizumi huffed and rubbed the back of his neck with a shaking hand trying to think of a way to break the awkward air between them.  If he was expected to _owe_ the mermaid his time then he wasn’t going to fulfill it in awkward silences. Especially because he did _sort_ of owe him for saving his life.

“You called it Heart…what is it?” He offered the words a bit roughly, a habit he couldn’t stop even if he tried.  His heart was still pounding and it was a struggle to keep his breathing under control. 

Oikawa grinned and continued walking, face up towards the sky, it was as if he was letting Iwaizumi stew in his own question.  When he finally stopped walking and turned to answer it was with a sly grin on his face.

“You’re actually really talkative despite your mean appearance aren’t you?”  Oikawa asked before continuing forward feet sinking pleasantly into the sand now cold with night all traces of hurt gone from his face.  At least he was easy to please.

“Shut up,” Iwaizumi snapped embarrassment heating his cheeks. 

They fell into a comfortable silence, Oikawa humming something to himself that didn’t sound like the ethereal music Iwaizumi had heard from him before.  It sounded _human_ which was throwing Iwaizumi through a loop.  He wasn’t sure exactly what was happening to him or had happened in the past hour that he had been with Oikawa but if there was one thing he knew, it’s that it definitely wasn’t _human_. 

How was he going to explain any of this to his mother? It wouldn’t be entirely uncommon or unreasonable for them to house a shipwreck victim but Oikawa wasn’t a victim.  With what he knew of sirens and mermaids, Oikawa could very well have been the force that sunk the ship that had washed up.  What the hell was he getting himself into? He wondered if it was too late to stop it as he watched Oikawa kick up sand with every step and adjusting the volleyball shorts he was in every few seconds.  He remembered the other’s threat and sighed softly— it was probably _much_ too late to get out of this situation. 

They finally arrived in front of the lengthy house on the side of the dirt road that Iwaizumi had grown accustomed to calling home.  He pushed the rickety gate open with the usual loud screech and building of sand as the wood scraped across the surface of beach. He stepped off of the dirt path and let his feet sink into the cold sand of what was considered to be their yard.

Oikawa was right behind him and toes wiggling in the sand.  He was looking the house over with curious brown eyes and Iwaizumi was too tired to explain anything so he just walked to the stairs, relying heavily on the railing to support his weight as he dragged himself upwards.  There was the sound of a yelp and a loud clang that suggested Oikawa couldn’t climb stairs.  Sure enough when he looked back, Oikawa was standing up from falling, a big pout on his face and a hand pressed against his shin.

“I don’t like these,” Oikawa whined, “why does your house have to be in the air? _Carry me_.” 

“Shut up,” Iwaizumi sighed, “I’m not going to carry you.”

But he did offer a hand to help the other up, gripping the railing with his hand to ensure that they both survived him supporting the weight of someone else in addition to his own.  Oikawa was on his feet in no time but the pout and watery eyes were still in place as Iwaizumi pulled him into motion.  He rolled his eyes as Oikawa took exaggerated knee to chest steps up the stairs, his face melting into one of concentration as his tongue peaked out to rest against his lips.  He looked far too proud of himself after making it to the top and Iwaizumi couldn’t help the second eye roll that was set so deep it made his eyes ache for just a moment.  He released Oikawa’s hand and swung the front door open, not noticing when Oikawa walked down the length of the wrap-around porch.

“Mom? I’m home,” he called.  Instantly he heard her knock over a chair in the kitchen and her the fall of her footsteps filled the entrance room. 

“Oh my god,” she said breathlessly as she saw her son coated in dirt and small cuts, “b _aby_ , what happened?” 

She wrapped him up in a tight hug squeezing him so tightly he had to cover up a groan of pain by hugging her back and clearing his throat.  Guilt weighed on his chest as she started shaking, small tremors in her hands and breath as his neck became slick with tears.  He didn’t have time to comfort her before she was sniffing and pulling away from him to run fingers through his hair, sending sand falling to the ground.  She brushed his bag off of his shoulder and took his hands, turning them around this way and that and ticking her tongue at their rough condition.

“Hanamaki called, he said you went missing at school.  Baby where did you go? I was so worried.” 

“I’m sorry,” Iwaizumi said roughly, “I heard there was a shipwreck and I had to go…”

“You sound _awful,_ Hajime were you out in that storm?” She sounded equal parts worried and baffled, “You _know_ better.”

He did. 

“I thought it was dad,” Iwaizumi sighed looking away, “I fell for a rumor.”

“…I heard it too,” his mother admitted quietly while running her thumb over his face, “It was confirmed as Johzui instead of Johsai an hour after the rumors started…are you bleeding?” 

“I bit my cheek,” Iwaizumi admitted, “Took a tumble.” 

“Oh Hajime…”

“Is Hajime Iwaizoome’s first name?”

Iwaizumi groaned.  He had blissfully forgotten about his magical pest.  He still hadn’t really figured out what to tell his mother, there was no way he could say the truth.  If he was having a hard time believing it then his mother would too.  Either that or worse, she would actually believe him and like Iwaizumi she would think that mermaid equaled siren and that wouldn’t fly in their household.  Not with Iwaizumi’s past and his father’s current obsession. 

“Hajime who is this?” His mother asked sounding horrified. 

Iwaizumi wasn’t sure if it was because Oikawa looked just as bad as he did with a huge bruise on his face and remnants of a bloody nose caked in between his teeth or if she was baffled as to why Oikawa was only in a very short pair of sports shorts that she recognized as her own son’s in the dead of night, “Come, come inside dear, you look about frozen to death.”

“Iwaizoome’s mom is so nice!” Oikawa chirped as his mother cupped the side of Oikawa’s face.

“He’s a victim,” Hajime found himself saying before he had anything solid to go off of.

“…They didn’t announce any victims…” his mom trailed off.

“He’s one of _them_ ,” Iwaizumi pressed hoping his mom would just pick a meaning that she liked. 

“I see…” His mom turned back to Oikawa who looked lost at the conversation and he cocked his head at Iwaizumi who just shook his head.  He’d explain later. 

“It’s nice to meet you!” Oikawa said with a charming bloodstained smile, “I’m Oikawa Tooru!”

“Nice to meet you.  You can just call me Auntie,” she smiled back, “If you need a place to stay for a while under the radar then you’re welcome here.”

Perfect.  Iwaizumi caught her meaning right away and was irritated with himself that he hadn’t thought of that excuse first off.  He blamed Oikawa’s hard head for hitting his and giving him a concussion.  Often times certain ship wrecked victims didn’t want to be found by any patrol groups or rescue teams that arrived on scene after a wreck.  A lot of times they were trying to escape their own countries or stay under the radar to avoid people they were running away from.  His mom kept an eye on criminals on the run from the law that showed up in their wanted newspaper listings and as long as people who showed up at their door didn’t look _anything_ like them, she would take them in.  At least for a little bit. 

“Sorry to shove all this on you at once, mom,” Iwaizumi apologized.

“You should be,” his mother said sternly, “and you should keep it in mind next time you’re thinking about being an idiot.”

“Yes ma’am,” he really didn’t have a defense for that.

“Now I want you both bathed and cleaned up while I finish dinner,” she ordered looking every bit of fierce Iwaizumi knew she was, “and Hajime you call your friends and you let them know what happened so they’ll stop calling _me._ ” 

“Yes, ma’am,” Hajime replied meekly.

“And let Oikawa borrow your clothes, the poor dear looks like he’s freezing,” she said discreetly wiping away her tears on her sleeve as she stepped back into the hallway.

“C’mon,” Iwaizumi sighed at Oikawa, “I’ll teach you how to use the shower.”

“Hajime’s mom is so kind,” Oikawa grinned and Iwaizumi groaned he _knew_ it.

“We agreed on a nickname asskawa.  Stop using my first name.”

“A-ass… _rude!_ Mean!  Where did you even come up with that?! Your mom is so nice, why are you so mean?”  Oikawa whined as he followed Iwaizumi through the house and into the shower room. 

He taught Oikawa about their backwards hot and cold handles and how the water could sometimes be finicky.  How sometimes in the middle of a hot shower the water would suddenly turn cold with a high pitched screech as the warning for it.  He taught him which shampoos were his mothers and that he shouldn’t touch them, and then which ones were his and that he could use them for now.  He pulled out a spare toothbrush from their cabinets and told Oikawa he could use it if he wanted. 

“Do you guys do this often?” Oikawa asked, draped over the counter as Iwaizumi grabbed a fresh towel, “You seem like you’re going through rehearsed lines or something.”

“Sometimes,” Iwaizumi said, “I wouldn’t say often but it happens enough for my mom not to question me bringing home random strangers.”

“Doesn’t that file into the often category?” Oikawa questioned with a sly grin.

“Shut up,” Iwaizumi sighed. He was really too tired to deal with this, “Just be quick so I can get some hot water too.” 

“Sure~” Oikawa sang.

Iwaizumi rolled his eyes and grabbed him a spare pair of his old pajamas before leaving the mermaid to his thing.  He stepped into the threshold of the kitchen where his mother was, not daring to actually cross over and stand in the kitchen with all the filth he was sporting.  Guilt clouded his chest again as he noticed the birthday cake sitting on the table and what looked like half done preparations for a substantial dinner.  She had probably gotten Makki’s call while making a big meal for them.

“Did you call your friends Hajime?”  His mother asked without turning around from slicing something on the cutting board.  She hadn’t even turned around to see him there.  He was certain she had a kitchen radar and anyone who came near it was automatically in her field of vision. 

“Not yet,” he answered, “I just wanted to say sorry, for making you worry.”

“Thank you,” she said softly, turning to look at him with a soft smile, “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

“Me too.”

“Go call your friends.”

He nodded and resigned himself with a sigh to a fate of concerned yelling for however long Oikawa was in the shower for. He called Makki back first since he had already hung up on him once.  He had to explain that no he had managed to _not_ have an attack on the beach and he was just fine at home and _no_ he _really_ didn’t need them to come over.  It took time to convince the others too, since they were all apparently still with each other he was in fact on speaker, but afterwards he was finally able to move on from annoying reassurances to rescheduling.

“We’ll go,” it was Bokuto speaking now, “But only after you get over whatever frog is in your throat.  You sound awful, man!”  

“For once I agree with Bokuto-san,” Akaashi said, his monotonous voice a comfort to Iwaizumi’s overworked ears.

“Seriously if you come to school tomorrow I’ll personally beat you all the way up the stairs to you house and back into to your bed,” Mattsun threatened. 

“I must sound pretty bad then,” Iwaizumi grinned. 

Truth was, he felt that bad.  His limbs ached, his throat was sore and throbbed every time he spoke; not to mention his eyes were burned with fatigue, and he was warm.  He wasn’t even sure if he’d be able to get out of bed once he got in it.  Not for awhile at least.  If he wasn’t almost 100% positive that Oikawa would bug him into ‘owing him for _whatever_ ’ he would probably sleep for the next week. 

“You sound like death.” Makki said bluntly.

“Gee, thanks,” Iwaizumi huffed, “Oh…uh…”  Speaking of Oikawa he should probably say something.

“What’s up?” Yahaba asked after he went silent.  He wasn’t exactly sure what to say.  It was probably best to just lie.

“There’s a guy staying with us too.  Found him on the beach but he’s an under the radar sort of guy so keep it down.  He’ll probably be tagging along with me or something,” Iwaizumi said rubbing the back of his neck out of habit.

“You seriously found a victim?”

“Yeah,” Iwaizumi sighed, “weird ass guy too.”

“Don’t doubt that,” said Kunimi and Kindachi at once.

“Go to bed,” Akaashi said suddenly, “Stop forcing yourself to make conversation with us when you sound like you’d like nothing better to do than sleep.”

“Uh…right. Sorry,” Iwaizumi laughed awkwardly always uncomfortable with how much Akaashi could tell just from hearing him.

“Don’t apologize,” Bokuto said cheerfully, “Just get better so we can all go to Mikes!”

“You and your one track mind.” someone snorted. 

There was the sound of Bokuto scoffing in disbelief followed by what sounded like someone getting hit.  Then all he could hear was an argument between the two players. Iwaizumi sighed and made a mental note to increase the practice regiment, if they still had enough energy to argue they could practice longer.

“Bye,” Iwaizumi said loudly leaving Akaashi to deal with the commotion.  He hung up before he had to hear anymore.

“What should I do while Iwaizoome is in the shower?”

Iwaizumi jumped at the sound of Oikawa’s voice.  He hadn’t heard the water shut off or any sound being made in the hallway so he was completely taken aback by Oikawa’s sudden appearance.  He looked at the other and had to to stifle a laugh.

He hadn’t given Oikawa’s height much thought, but as he saw his clothes on other other’s frame he was forced to consider it.  The pants barely reached Oikawa’s ankles and the sleeves on the shirt looked like quarter sleeves, at best.  However, where Iwaizumi lacked in length he made up in muscle so the width of the sleeves and pant legs were too wide for Oikawa and they ended up looking baggy on him despite being too short.  How ridiculous.

“Let me explore your house!” Oikawa gasped suddenly excited, “I want to see what human toys are like now!”

“Stop saying that kind of stuff,” Iwaizumi said quickly, “Mermaids and sirens aren’t exactly good news around here, okay.  If you’re going to be annoying and interfere in my life they you need to actually pretend to _be_ a human.”

“What do you mean mermaids aren’t seen as good?!”  Oikawa asked appalled, “We are some of the kindest creatures.” 

“We’d rather  deal with sharks,” Iwaizumi said bluntly.  At least _they_ didn’t give him anxiety.

“Mean!”

“That’s just how it is here, okay,” Iwaizumi sighed pinching the bridge of his nose, “Humans here just don’t get along with mermaids or sirens or whatever.”  Especially not his family. 

“Is that why you always look at me with fear in your eyes?” Oikawa was suddenly uncharacteristically serious and it made Iwaizuimi’s stomach flip.

“What…” he wanted to deny it but he was sure Oikawa was right.  He wasn’t even sure if he would sleep comfortably tonight knowing that a sea creature in disguise was in his home, “If by always you mean the past two hours that I’ve known you then sure.” 

“I  wondered,” Oikawa sighed while plopping down on Iwaizuimi’s bed, wet hair making his covers damp, “Why you tried so hard to get away.”

“Anyone would try to get away from something that was trapping them,” Iwaizumi replied irritated.

“I _saved_ you,” Oikawa said crossly, “Humans used to _worship_ us.”

“Yeah well…not anymore,” Iwaizumi huffed, “I’m gonna go shower.  Don’t…touch anything and if my mom asks you to do something just do it.”

“You have no faith in me,” Oikawa sighed in mock hurt.

“I don’t,” Iwaizumi confirmed before grabbing his own pajamas and leaving the room.  He turned around quickly and popped his head back in to see Oikawa still lounging on his bed, “Also, if you hurt my mom in any way shape or form, curse me or not, I will cut. You. Down.”

Whether or not he could actually hold true to that threat he wasn’t sure.  Oikawa did possess weird ass magic and Iwaizumi wasn’t sure how to trifle with that but it seemed his message was clear because Oikawa only looked vaguely hurt before nodding. 

“I’m not cruel like you,” Oikawa said.

“That is yet to be seen,” Iwaizumi mumbled.  Oikawa did after all force his way into Iwaizumi’s home and life. 

He shrugged off the conversation and took his shower, scrubbing off all the blood, dirt, and sand that had dried on his body.  It was in this time that Iwaizumi was reminded that he really shouldn’t be alone when having such close calls with siren memories.  The memories were oppressive, pushing down on him until it took everything he had just to fight them off.  He had to stay alert, there was a mermaid in his house with his _mother_ , he couldn’t take the luxury of stirring soup for half an hour.  He had to make sure everything stayed safe.  That she stayed safe.  That _he_ stayed safe.

Had he already shampooed his hair?  He thought maybe he had done it twice now.  Unsure, he shampooed a third time keeping his eyes locked on the wall, too afraid to close them and see the jeweled eyes of the siren staring back at him.  His eyes stung with dryness and his hands shook with apprehension as they massaged the shampoo into his scalp.  He couldn’t stop the thoughts of cold water rushing at him so he turned up the heat until it burned, his skin turning pink with irritation.  As he washed his body for the second time, he felt like he would be sick.  He tried no to think about it.

Eventually he did have to blink, and he did see those dazzling eyes.  Fear flooded his chest making him feel as if he was drowning again, and he vomited.  He tried to focus on the way that the scorching water burned and irritated his skin.  He couldn’t have an attack, not now.  Not when he was alone, everything was worse when he was on his own.  He stood on shaking legs and shut the water off knowing that if he stayed near water much longer he was going to have a repeat of the bathtub incident three- no, four years ago.

He dried off quickly, feeling anxious about leaving his mom for so long with a mermaid.  She had no idea.  Should he tell her?  Would it make her safer or would it put a target on her back?  As he pulled on his pajama pants he thought it would be best to stay silent until he knew more.  He didn’t want to unintentionally make his mom a target.  Was he a target?  Probably…Iwaizumi had been a target for four years now. He was used to that.

He pulled on his shirt and scrubbed his hair dry before all but throwing his things in the dirty clothes hamper in the bathroom and nearly sprinting out of the bathroom.  He really shouldn’t be alone right now.  He came into the kitchen to see his mother tasking Oikawa to help with food where she found him to be utterly useless by the looks of it.  He was glaring at their peeler and a pile of apples.

“Oh Hajim-“ his mother cut off as she caught sight of him and he was quick to put a better expression on his face before Oikawa caught any glimpse of weakness, “are you alright?”

“Fine,” Iwaizumi lied.

“…Do you need me to,” she glanced for a second at Oikawa before choosing her words, “help you with homework tonight?”

He caught the meaning.  She was offering to give up her room to Oikawa and stay with Iwaizumi if he was uncomfortable not being with a stranger, since being alone was not an option.  Him giving up his room and staying on the couch in the living room wasn’t going to fly if his mother suspected he had been having flashbacks, and honestly Iwaizumi wasn’t ever going to be comfortable with Oikawa in his room alone.  Nor would he be comfortable with the mermaid in his mothers room.  He would suck it up and stay the night with the mermaid.

“No,” Iwaizumi added a small snort onto the word, “I’m in college now mom.  You don’t need to worry so much.” 

_I’ll be alright_.

She nodded catching the meaning before sighing, “My boy all big and grown up.  Right, Tooru?”

Oikawa, who had been staring at them with a pulled in eyebrows and a confused pout looked to her face breaking out in a grin, “Sure thing auntie!” 

“When did you two get so friendly?” Iwaizumi grumbled as he followed his mother’s hand motions to grab the peeler from Oikawa.   

“While you went ahead and pampered yourself in the shower, dear,” his mother replied. 

“Fast work,” he said offhandedly as he took to peeling the apples with semi-shaking hands.

“Well Auntie is a _lot_ more nice than Iwaizoome is,” Oikawa huffed sounding a little put out.  Iwaizumi rolled his eyes.

“Are you paying attention?” he asked as he gestured with the apple and peeler, “I’m only doing this once for you.”

“I am!” Oikawa cried indignantly. 

In the end he ended up peeling two apples as demonstration and was half convinced, as the other picked up the skill in literally two seconds, that he just didn’t want to do it and was trying to get out of the work.  Either way he was doing it now, so Iwaizumi passed them off to his mother for slicing knowing that she wouldn’t allow him to do it with the suspicion of flashbacks on her mind.  Instead he took to setting the table.  It was an odd feeling setting for three and knowing that all spots would be filled that night.

“Alright,” his mother huffed happily as she brought the main dish, Iwaizumi’s favorite Agedashi Tofu, to the table, “let’s eat.”

“Oikawa bring the apples,” Iwaizumi said roughly his voice still not carrying properly when he spoke.

“Of course!” The reply was so chipper it made Iwaizumi want to punch him but for the sake of his mother, he did not.

They sat down and Oikawa watched them with creepily big eyes as if observing everything they did and trying to soak it up.  It itched at Iwaizumi’s skin, as if they were lab rats and he was watching them run through a maze to get to a slice of cheese.  He didn’t enjoy the feeling of being studied. It must have shown on his face because his mother’s eyebrow was raised in the sort of way that silently told him to behave and be nice.  He tried his hardest to wipe the look off of his face.

“Happy Birthday, Hajime,” his mother said warmly, “I hope that despite everything today it’s been alright.”

“It’s Iwaizoome’s birthday?!” Oikawa asked mouth flapping open and eyes growing bigger. 

“M _om_ ,” Iwaizumi groaned.  He slunk down in his chair positive that this is what suffering was.

“Isn’t it hum-er-customary to give gifts on a birthday?!”  Oikawa asked standing suddenly and looking panicked.

“Don’t worry about it asskawa,” Iwaizumi snapped, “you didn’t know…” he added a bit more softly as he caught the appalled look on his mother’s face that said they would be talking later.

“Ahh c’mon Iwaizoome,” Oikawa pouted, “You’re such a downer.”

“Thanks for the meal mom,” He said loudly over the complaints and he grabbed his mothers plate, loading it up for her.  Then, only because he knew he’d get chewed out if he didn’t, he did the same for Oikawa, “Let’s eat.” 

Their usual silence over dinner was broken by Oikawa’s inability to read the atmosphere and his loud comments on how good the meal was.  It made his mom happy so he didn’t say anything and Iwaizumi, bitter as he was, couldn’t help but agree.  Her Agedashi Tofu was the best.  It was a rarity  in the house too as she preferred working with fish and vegetables and not something like tofu which had to be purchased in the city.  He felt bad that she had taken a special trip to go get the ingredients and he had caused her nothing but stress.

“Hajime?  Are you listening?”

No, he was not. 

He jolted back to the dinner conversation between his mom and Oikawa trying to pick out what had been said. He could piece nothing together other than the fact that he had somehow eaten the food on his plate and they all had worked the meal down to zero leftovers.  The fact that he hadn’t really realized that they had gotten so far into dinner was concerning but he was so tired he was having a hard time working up the energy to be worried about it.

“Sorry mom,” he sighed, “just tired…”

“Iwaizoome had a long day,” Oikawa grinned.

“…well then I _really_ think we should cut cake tomorrow and you boys should rest.”  She looked concerned and about half a second away from putting a hand on his forehead so Iwaizumi stood to save himself the embarrassment.

“Sure,” he agreed, “I’ll help clean up.”

“You’ll do no such thing,” his mom reprimanded as she took the plate he was holding before she turned to Oikawa, “Tooru be a dear and make sure he actually lies down tonight.”

“You can count on me!” Oikawa chirped as he hooked an arm through Iwaizumi’s.  He tried to shake the other off but failed as Oikawa tightened his grip.   

“Great, both of you get some sleep.”

“Wait-but _mom_ ,” his words were cut off as he was literally dragged from the kitchen by Oikawa, who was a lot stronger than he looked, “Let _go Kusokawa_!”

“Where do you come up with those mean nicknames?” Oikawa pouted as he pushed Iwaizumi into his own room.  Already a futon had been laid out on the ground, “besides I’m just doing what _you_ told me to do and I’m listening to what your mom asks me to do!  If it just so happens to annoy you then it’s only an added bonus.”

“I always help my mom clean up,” Iwaizumi protested.  Although he wasn’t sure why he was complaining about being allowed to skip it.  It had been the break in his routine that he had been craving and now it felt all sorts of weird.  Or maybe it was just that he had had a weird day.  All of the above was a valid option too.

“Not tonight,” Oikawa shrugged, “Besides you look like you’ve gotten worse instead of better.”

“What?” he felt his face falling into its usual annoyed glower as Oikawa flipped his stupid curly hair back.

“I mean you look like a blobfish after being exposed to the surface Iwaizoome,” Oikawa huffed, “it’d probably be better for you to sleep anyway.”

He didn’t get the reference entirely but anything named blobfish couldn’t look very good and the insult sparked a purely instinctual irritation in him.  Before he knew it he was treating Oikawa like he would Makki or Mattsun after they had pushed him too far.  He wrapped one arm around Oikawa’s neck trapping him in a headlock that had him grabbing onto Iwaizuimi’s arm and releasing a panicked yelp. 

“You’re so _annoying_ ,” Iwaizumi ground out through his teeth, “just shut up and go to bed.” 

“That’s what I was telling _you_!” Oikawa whined as he was released on top of the futon, “You don’t have to be _violent_ , you _brute_.” 

He was halfway over to the light switch when he caught Oikawa’s words and he looked over his shoulder with the same death look he had given Mattsun earlier that day in the locker rooms, before he had tried to snap Kindaichi with the towel.  He was grateful for its effectiveness on magical creatures because Oikawa simply squeaked out a noise and scrambled to get under the covers of the futon.  Iwaizumi smacked the light switch down and resigned himself to a sleepless night. 

Except, he was out as soon as his head hit the pillow…but it didn’t last very long.  His dreams were plagued with visions of being 17 again and stuck on his father’s ship.  He saw himself ignoring the order to get in the cabin and to _get the fuck off the deck_.  But he was 17 and thought he was invincible.  How wrong he was as the siren’s song caught him from halfway across the ship.  His father had noticed instantly.  He was only halfway through putting on protective ear gear, a preventative measure against the song, when he noticed Iwaizumi heading for the direction of the siren.  The nightmares skipped around to Iwaizumi crawling on top of the railing swinging a leg over and reaching an arm down. 

He jerked awake as his arm was yanked in the nightmare.  His breathing was too fast, his heart racing and his chest painful.  He looked to the side seeing light filter in through the crack of his closed door.  His mother must have closed it while walking past since he had left it open before going to bed. He looked down and nearly vomited right there when he made eye contact with big brown eyes that were unwaveringly staring at him.

“ _Jesus_ ,” he cursed in shock.

“…You’re _really_ weird,” Oikawa said.

“ _What_?” Iwaizumi wasn’t even sure where that had come from and he was too tired to try and understand how he should respond.

“I don’t fully understand yet so go back to sleep so I can keep studying you.”

“ _Who the hell could go back to sleep after hearing something like that?_ ” Iwaizumi hissed, “You go to sleep!”

“I’m not tired yet,” Oikawa shrugged, “plus it’s cold down here.”

“Suck it up!” Iwaizumi huffed as he rolled over onto his side trying to ignore the fact that Oikawa had said he was _studying_ him. 

But he was exhausted and his body ached; it was a losing battle that he wasn’t sure he could ever win.  His eyelids sunk down and he fell asleep only to dream of the siren again.  It was like an unending circle of hell.  Fall asleep, have flashbacks, be jolted awake at some point, then be too exhausted to stay awake and repeat.  Until the cycle was finally broken by none other than the annoying pest in his room.

“It’s cold, let me sleep with you,” Oikawa said as he dragged blankets onto Iwaizumi’s bed.

“ _No_!” Iwaizumi groaned sleepily as Oikawa completely disregarded him and crawled over him, “I said no,” it turned into a whine and Oikawa chuckled.

“Iwaizoomie is cute when he’s sleepy.”

“You talk so weird,” Iwaizumi groaned, “Just shut up.”

“Scoot over,” Oikawa said as he pushed a little at Iwaizumi who tiredly complied. 

He was a pest, a real thorn in his side.  Especially as he pressed his _cold toes_ against Iwaizumi’s legs and wiggled in closer.  Iwaizumi scoffed and thought about moving away but he was _so_ tired and maybe, just maybe, this time he could escape the flashbacks.  He knew there wasn’t a big chance of that happening and he steeled himself for another round of unsatisfactory sleep and horror.  His eyes were so heavy but his brain was shooting out warning signals, Oikawa was so close.  He should be more vigilant but he was so very tired.

  His body started winning out as Oikawa’s bright eyes opened and stared at him.  It sent a jolt of fear down his spine but it wasn’t enough to keep him alert. The last thing he registered through flickering eyelids was Oikawa’s face coming closer to his and something pressing against his forehead. 

When he closed his eyes that time he fell into a dreamless sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and let me know what you guys think! Again you can follow my writing blog at Koi-ink.tumblr.com or my personal blog at Koibitotedare.tumblr.com  
> You can find my beta at inspiringanna.tumblr.com and don't be afraid to let her know how awesome she is!
> 
> Note:  
> Gooseflesh is a regional term for goosebumps


	3. Misunderstandings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Iwaizumi, Oikawa, and mom all have a few misunderstandings that lead to rather humorous outcomes. Iwaizumi and Oikawa bond just a bit and Iwaizumi can no longer keep his secret, instead giving in to the song of the siren.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait on this everyone! A lot happened this past month including the death of my friends wife and as I am in another country right now it was really hard for me to support him. In addition my finals are coming up and I've had nothing but exams and projects these past two weeks! So I'm sorry about the delay but please expect another lengthy break as I will be returning to my home country in about three weeks. 
> 
> Also a really big shout out to my beta reader, inspiringanna for her AMAZING work! Please give her some love too, this fic wouldn't be nearly as put together as it is if it weren't for her picking out my mistakes!

Morning brought nice things like seagulls, sunshine, and his mothers humming- but it also brought him an alert, annoying, pest who _wouldn’t stop poking him_. His head hurt, he was exhausted, and his limbs still ached; he was nowhere near ready to face anything other than the inside of his eyelids, let alone Oikawa. As if Oikawa wasn’t annoying enough, there was a sound drowning out his mothers humming that lit a fire of rage in his chest.  It grated on his ears and made him grab Oikawa’s pillow--earning some sort of annoyed complaint--before burying his head between them both. It prevented the cheek poking, but the _sound_ was still there.

“Iwaizoome, c’mon, if you don’t kill the animal in your bag _who_ will!” Oikawa said his voice strained with anxiety.

That was enough to get his attention. Iwaizumi dragged the pillow off of his head and squinted in the morning light. It was barely filtering in through the window of his room, only enough to make everything slightly visible but still roused an ache in his eyes and a sting at the back of his head. He squinted across the room at his bag trying to distinguish between different colored blurs and make out the animal that Oikawa had spoken of but he saw nothing.

As he turned to glare at Oikawa it dawned on him that the rage in his chest was because there was no _animal_ in his bag but the sound was eerily familiar to his _alarm_ tone, only more muffled and in between layers of clothes and soggy school papers as he had completely forgotten to put it on the charger last night. The fact it still had battery was astounding but the lack of anything more exciting than his morning alarm diminished any energy the small thrill had provided.

“Alarm,” he croaked out voice sounding as awful as he felt.

“A what? I don’t know what animal that is!” Oikawa poked his face again as he lied back down, “Don’t go back to sleep! You have to kill it!”

He didn’t even grace him with an answer, just swatted Oikawa’s frantic hands away from him and pressed the other pillow back over his head trying to block out the sound of that stupid alarm. He really needed to pick a new tone. It was time to psychologically recondition himself to hate something _other_ than the duck remix that Mattsun had sent to him. Really, he had only set it because it had been ironic at the time, but now it was just _annoying_.

“Iwaizoomeee,” came the whine and the inevitable pushing at his shoulder.

“Just _grab_ it and disable the alarm!” Iwaizumi snapped, his voice cracking and throat straining. He just wanted to sleep.

“It’s _your_ creepy land animal!” Oikawa cried as he pushed insistently at Iwaizumi’s shoulder.

Annoyed, Iwaizumi slapped the pillow he had previously taken from Oikawa over the other’s face, twice despite his aching arms. The sound of the pillow bouncing off of Oikawa’s face was nowhere near satisfiying, as he couldn’t quite build up the strength to really get a solid hit in. So he ignored the muffled complaints, which were still going steady despite Iwaizumi’s attempts to thwart them, and instead threw the blankets on his bed back with a snap.

Knowing that he wasn’t going to get any peace until the damn alarm was shut off, he stomped over to the bag that had been hastily thrown in the corner last night. He snatched it up with one hand and violently ripped the zipper down before pulling out the cellphone which was on it’s umpteenth repeat of an auto-tuned duck. He slid his thumb over the screen to disable the alarm and promptly chucked the device at Oikawa.

“Ouch! _Mean_!” The other cried as he cradled his hand that had been hit.

Iwaizumi stomped back to bed and slid back in between the covers, pulling them over his face as he lied down. He wasn’t in the mood for this- not for social interaction, not for being awake, and definitely not for anything remotely magical. He just wanted a normal morning of being ill and skipping classes. But of course the universe hated him and he couldn’t ever live a simple life. Especially not as his phone started ringing and Oikawa started squawking about it.

He threw the blankets back again and snatched the phone from where it had landed by Oikawa’s thigh. He didn’t look at the name on the screen, only swiped his thumb across the glass and pressed the phone to his ear.

“ _What_?” He bit out.

_“Hello to you too, princess.”_ Makki’s said sounding amused.

“Makki I _swear_ to _god_ if don’t tell me what you called for in the next _five_ goddamn _seconds_ ….”

_“I just wanted to make sure you were actually going to stay in bed today,”_ Makki said scrutinizingly, _“You’ll have to excuse me for being worried about the moron who trapezes around in storms.”_

Well fuck, he had a point.

“…Sorry Makki. I’ll be staying in today, so don’t worry about it.” Iwaizumi sighed heavily as he ran a hand over his face, guilt and fatigue overriding any other emotion that had once filled his chest; afterall, Makki had only been worried about him. He caught Oikawa’s eye over the edge of his pointer finger; Makki had been rightly worried too.

“Is that Iwaizoome’s friend?” Oikawa chirped, thinking that the eye contact had been permission to speak.

_“Who is that_?” Makki asked sounding amused once more, “ _the guy you found?”_

Iwaizumi just groaned, “Yeah.”

_“Try not to sound too excited.”_

“I’m going back to bed for the next week,” Iwaizumi grit into the receiver before hanging up without waiting for a reply.

“I wanna see Iwaizoome’s friends!” Oikawa complained as he lied on top of Iwaizumi.

“Shut up, I’m going back to bed. _Don’t_ bug my mom, don’t _touch_ anything, and don’t…do anything _weird,”_ Iwaizumi said as he pushed Oikawa off of him.

“Then what am I supposed to do?” Oikawa griped, “I’m _bored_.”

“Go to sleep,” Iwaizumi groaned as he pulled the blankets up over his face and curled into its warmth. With any luck he’d be feeling better by evening. Enough to cut cake with his mom.

He ignored Oikawa’s moaning about how he wasn’t tired even though it was ass crack dawn in the morning, instead focusing on falling asleep. Being utterly exhausted worked in his favor and he was out in just a matter of minutes, pleasant inky blackness shrouded his mind and dimmed his senses as Oikawa's persistent babbling faded away into background noise. If he dreamed, he didn’t recall. Just that he felt like he was actually resting as opposed to anxiously laying in wait for the next time his eyes would fly open and he could start running away from everything that haunted when he closed them.

When he woke up for the second time that day it was due to an uncomfortable pressure in his kidney. He pried his eyelids apart, blinking twice to clear away the crust that had sealed them shut, and took in the bleary sight of his room, warm with the rays of light that were streaming in from the window. There was the usual mess, but something felt off- specifically with the way the pressure on his kidney kept fluctuating. He turned behind him to identify source of his discomfort and unsurprisingly found Oikawa sitting cross legged on his bed, nose pressed into one of Iwaizumi’s school books.

“I said not to touch anything,” Iwaizumi grumbled, his voice still groggy with sleep.

“You’re awake!” Oikawa chirped before dropping the book carelessly onto the bed.

“Get your knee out of my back.”

“Auntie said to make sure you ate when you woke up!” Oikawa grinned cheerfully as he shifted to lie on Iwaizumi, arms crossed over his back, “You’ve been asleep for a long time.”  Oikawa was pouting again; he didn’t even need to look at the others face to recognize the tone.  

“I’m _sick_ ,” He defended while shrugging his shoulder in an attempt to dislodge Oikawa.

“Humans are so weird…” Oikawa sighed against his shoulder blades making Iwaizumi hunch them up in defense against the warm huffs of breath.

“Like you don’t get sick,” Iwaizumi grouched.

He sighed with the realization that returning to sleep would be downright impossible. He pushed Oikawa off of him with a hand to the others face and sat up, thankful that the pounding headache he had earlier was gone along with the sensitivity he had towards light. Aside from general fatigue he felt infinitely better than he had that morning.

 He rubbed the gunk from his eyes and followed Oikawa’s expectant gaze towards his night stand where he had begun to notice the subtle scent of his mothers home cooking. He grabbed the bowl of Okayu and peeled off the clear wrap she had smoothed over the lid of the bowl in an attempt to keep it fresh.  He took the spoon that had been left on a napkin beside his lamp as Oikawa shifted beside him ready to continue the conversation now that Iwaizumi had taken up the bowl of food.

“Of course we do,” Oikawa huffed as he snatched an apple slice for himself from the small plate that had been hidden behind the bowl of porridge, “we’re just able to fix it if we want to.”

Iwaizumi snorted, “Why _wouldn’t_ you want to?”

“…Preserve strength,” Oikawa specified uncharacteristically serious, “might need it later. Ocean is full of predators you know…”

Iwaizumi risked a glance at Oikawa as his heart pounded faster against his ribcage in response to Oikawa’s voice dropping several octaves, void of it’s usual teasing ring. The way Oikawa was talking sounded too serious, like there was more to it than a simple preservation of strength. What depth the topic held Iwaizumi didn’t know, but for whatever reason it made Oikawa’s brow wrinkle and his eyes slide into a squint which was directed at his apple slice, a troubled frown on his face. Iwaizumi had a feeling there was more to his statement but it didn’t seem as though Oikawa would elaborate. Deciding it was none of his business and really nothing he wanted to know about anyway, Iwaizumi returned his attention to the lukewarm food his mom left.

“You know,” he spoke up as he stirred the Okayu around to properly mix the egg that had been left on top, “humans can do something about being sick too.”

Just like that the dark aura around Oikawa was broken and his eyes lit up again with curiosity, “No they can’t!”  He sounded skeptical but the slant of his eyelids and curve of his lips seemed as if he were saying ‘tell me more.’

“I’m doing it right now,” Iwaizumi teased as he took a bite of the food.

“You are not!”  Oikawa huffed indignantly, “I can sense Heart usage Iwai _zoome_ , you can’t fool me!” 

“What?” Iwaizumi asked a little dumbfounded the hand holding his spoon faultering for a moment, “No idiot, humans can’t use magic or anything…I’m talking about this.”  He wiggled the bowl of Okayu in his left hand.

“It’s not magic!” Oikawa sneered, “and that’s just watery rice!”

“It’s _aiding_ my recovery,” Iwaizumi huffed, “we fix ourselves by doing things like this…sleeping, eating soft foods, and sleeping more.” 

“That’s not fixing yourselves,” Oikawa pouted, “That’s just waiting it out while taking precautions so it doesn’t get worse.”

“Then what do you consider ‘fixing’ to be?” Iwaizumi quipped knowing he was going to regret asking; the answer would more than likely involve weird mermaid magic.

“You’re sick,” Oikawa started, “and you use heart to make yourself _not_ sick.”

“Descriptive.”  Iwaizumi rolled his eyes.

“C’mon I did it for you already,” Oikawa pouted, “twice!”

“Twice?”  Iwaizumi asked suspicously his voice low and dangerous as his eyes snapped up to hold Oikawa’s in place.  His hand stopped midway to his mouth and he put the scoop of Okayu back in the bowl his entire being concentrated on the look of guilt overcoming Oikawa’s face.

Oikawa recoiled with wide eyes as his hands, one of which was still holding the apple slice, slapped over his mouth. Iwaizumi narrowed his eyes and pinned Oikawa with a look that demanded attention and honesty. He remembered Oikawa doing some weird magic when they were walking back from the ocean after he realized he legitimately had a concussion. However, he vividly remembered telling him to _not_ do it again and since he had _just_ admitted to doing it _twice_ …

“I said no _fucking_ magic,” Iwaizumi snapped, a bit of panic leaking into his voice. He was already opposed to being the recipeint of something as otherwordly and strange as _magic_ but moreso he hated knowing that his head had been tampered with while he was vulerable in his sleep. He felt his anxiety kicking back up again, was it going to be anything like what he experienced during his flashback episodes from when he was 17?  He didn’t know, he didn’t like it, he didn’t know how it was _changing_ him.

“It’s _not_ magic!  I didn’t--,”

“—It is!” Iwaizumi snapped as his hands started shaking and he gripped the Okayu bowl until his knuckles burned with the stretch and his skin turned white. His breathing was hard to keep under control now- what had happened to him while he had been asleep?

“…You were crying…” Oikawa whispered it so quietly that Iwaizumi almost missed it.

“ _What_?”

“You were crying…and I…I,” Oikawa’s lip wobbled as if he were struggling to find the right words in his panic, “I thought maybe if you couldn’t sleep well you wouldn’t get better and then I’d _never_ get to see what humans are like!”  Oikawa whined as he bounced on the mattress impatiently before he scrambled to grab something buried in the covers. He pulled up the textbook Iwaizumi had seen him reading earlier and with a big pout and desperate eyes he opened the book to a page with filled with old art that Iwaizumi was supposed to memorize the names and dates of for his exam next week, “It’s not fair that I can only look at what human life is like through this book!”.

Iwaizumi huffed, _selfish prick_ , “I don’t care if I’m crying or not, don’t do it!  It’s disgusting and wrong!” His words were sharp and seemed to slice directly through Oikawa.  

He jolted and real tears flooded his eyes, “You’re a jerk.” The words were unexpectedly serious and Oikawa seemed genuinely hurt.

Iwaizumi’s instinct was to apologize, but he had to remind himself that he was not actually talking to an empathetic human. It was a creature capable of casting storms strong enough to wipe out his island, capable of casting curses strong enough to wipe out his friends, and capable of hurting his mom. He hardened himself with a frown, magic that could take away concussions and heal people _was_ creepy. Anything that messed with a human mind or body was disgusting. If there was anything he had learned it was to not trust any half ‘humans’ with magic. The siren magic he had been exposed to was disgusting. Mermaid magic was the same.

He didn’t offer an apology and he didn’t offer any sort of softening words as Oikawa pressed his lips together tightly and stood looking as if he was on the verge of sobbing. Iwaizumi didn’t even ask why Oikawa was pushing his bangs down to cover his forehead and he didn’t say anything when the other’s hands started to shake like Iwaizumi’s were.

“Magic is no good for humans,” Iwaizumi stated firmly.

“It’s _not_ magic,” Oikawa insisted his voice strained as his hands fisted at his sides, squeezing the apple slice until it leaked juice between his fingers.

“Then _what_ is it?” Iwaizumi snapped, “Because as far as I see anything that can take away illness and make storms or cast curses on people is fucking _magic_.” 

“It’s _soul_!” Oikawa snapped back, “ _My_ soul!  Ignorant _human!_ ”  The word human was spit from Oikawa’s lips like the lowest of insults as he threw his hands down by his sides, the apple slice slapping against Iwaizumi’s floor with a wet _splat_.

_Oh._

“Hajime?  What’s going on?” His mom only knocked once before opening the door to a teary Oikawa and shell shocked Iwaizumi, -“I heard yelling, what happened?” She asked worriedly at the sight of Oikawa’s watery-eyed expression.

“Uh…”  Iwaizumi was still struggling to find some sort of way to process all that had just dawned on him--he had called Oikawa’s _soul_ disgusting--and words for his mothers ears were hard to form, “Cultural differences?” He offered pathetically.

“Did you apologize?” His mother asked sternly as she entered the room with powerful strides.

“It’s fine,” Oikawa said tersely, “I don’t want one.”

“Alright, that’s fair,” his mom said before giving a side glance to Iwaizumi, “Tooru why don’t you go in the kitchen and grab something cool from the fridge to drink. I’ll come sit with you in a minute.”

Oikawa seemed to understand that his mother was not making a nice suggestion but instead ordering him to go. He only bobbed his head once and left the room without a glance back towards Iwaizumi who had already lost his appetite and was awkwardly waiting for a scolding. He set the bowl of food aside as his mother sat down next to him looking every bit of stern he knew her to be. She waited until she heard the opening and closing of the fridge before raising an eyebrow and turning to face Iwaizumi.

“Care to tell me what’s going on?”

“Just a misunderstanding. I said something…mean.”

“I got that Hajime,” his mom sighed, “I meant with you. Ever since you came back last night you’ve been acting on edge. Is there something you aren’t telling me?” Her tone implied she knew exactly what was going on but was demanding to hear it from him.

Iwaizumi could feel his muscles tense and a cold sweat broke out on his forehead. She couldn’t possibly know what Oikawa was…could she?  No, only that he was hiding something. He was her son after all, she would be the one to know when he was telling half truths. He wasn’t sure how to answer so he dropped his gaze and bit his lip in thought. His mom slid her hand onto his knee and gave it a squeeze.

“I saw…this morning…if that makes it easier?” She offered gently.

Iwaizumi felt his eyebrows pinch together involuntarily, what was she talking about?  There was no way she could have seen Oikawa with a tail, especially not this morning. He looked up at her confusion in his eyes, completely unable to pin-point what she wanted to hear from him.

“I thought it was strange that you had so little to say about him when you brought him home. You were so _vague_ it was like watching you fumble for answers you hadn’t fully thought through.”

Well he _had_ been fumbling through answers he didn’t have so she wasn’t wrong, but that still didn’t explain what she _saw_ that suddenly compromised Oikawa’s identity, “…What are you getting at?” Iwaizumi asked utterly confused.

“Hajime,” she sighed as she took his hand in hers and gave it a hard squeeze, “You know I’ll always love you no matter what. You’re my son.”

“Um…okay?”  Did it have something to do with being utterly ruined by a siren?  He wasn’t sure what this had to do with Oikawa.

“I saw you two sleeping together this morning. Really you don’t have to try and hide the fact that you’re gay from me,” she sighed as if she thought Iwaizumi would know better than to think otherwise, “I’ll love you anyway so don’t be afraid to talk me. If you two were fighting about whether or not to tell me you were an item then please go apologize to him. Tooru seems like a good boy and I just wish you would have brought him home sooner…did he bring you home after the storm?” 

He fell into a shocked sort  of silence, not really comprehending her words as she patiently waited for his answer. He had to churn the sentences around in his head for what seemed like minutes before it finally clicked that she really thought he and Oikawa were dating. The accusation made his heart leap into his throat and his cheeks to heat up under the influence of a blush. She thought he was gay.

“It’s not like that!” Iwaizumi yelped suddenly embarrassed, “I’m not ga—okay well I _am_ —but I wasn’t hiding—.”

“—Hajime,” his mother sounded serious and he stopped the rambling before it started, “I’m serious. You don’t have to hide these things from me. I’ll support you both.”

“Mom you’ve got it all wrong…” Iwaizumi insisted, “we aren’t dating or anything, really!  I swear I just…called him…disgusting, or something…”

His mother was silent for a long time trying to piece together the meaning of his sentence and he wanted to shake her. Like he would be dating a _mermaid_ of all things. It was true that he hadn’t come out to his mother and while she had only guessed half of it—because really girls were cute too—it wasn’t the problem. He tried to convey the message again but his words were still very much the same and when his mom looked up at him after her lengthy contemplation, there were tears in her eyes.

“You do tend to project your feelings…” she said quietly, her voice tight with emotion before leaning in to hug him, “You aren’t disgusting either, Hajime.”

“ _No_ , mom you’ve got it _wrong_!”  Iwaizumi groaned as his mother squeezed him. There was no getting through to her unless he flat out told her the truth and that was _not_ going to happen. Except, if he didn’t his mother would be under the impression that he was _dating_ Oikawa, “Seriously, he’s self-centered and annoying and he doesn’t _ever_ shut up…”

“Sounds like your father.”

And that shut Iwaizumi right up.

 His jaw snapped shut with a _clack_ and he deflated against his mom. That…was a low blow and she probably knew it. Seems like they were all being too aggressive with their speech today.

“When you’re ready to talk I’ll be here,” she cooed before pressing a kiss to his forehead, “It seems like your fever broke too…go have a good time with him.”

_You’re wrong._

_That’s not it._

_Stop being so stubborn about it._

He wanted to say all of those things but all that came from his lips was a quiet, “Okay.”

“I’m going to go talk to Tooru see if I can get him to calm down a little bit,” she said gently, “you’re just a little too abrasive sometimes.”

“I know.” 

“Change into something else, go take a walk on the beach- go do whatever it is you guys do and de-escalate. When you come back we can cut cake, together.” She pressed her hands against his shoulders in what he knew was an attempt to motivate and reassure him and while he normally would offer a smile at her in return he couldn’t quite manage it. She tucked her bottom lip underneath her teeth and brushed her fingers through the hair just above his ear. He hated worrying her like this.

At this point he could only nod numbly. This was all _wrong_ and he wasn’t sure how to make it right while keeping both his sanity and his mother’s sanity at the same time. He couldn’t ever _date_ Oikawa. Oikawa was a mermaid and Iwaizumi was having a hard enough time trying to keep memories of the siren at bay, let alone _tolerate_ Oikawa enough to actually _date_ him.

It wasn’t that Oikawa wasn’t good looking. Iwaizumi was pretty sure it was just expected that all mermaids and sirens looked as attractive as they did by nature, no doubt so they could entrance prey easier. No, the problem was the fact that Oikawa was _annoying_ and more importantly _half fish_. Iwaizumi was a human who had accompanied his father to yearly cullings of half fish creatures that came near their island.  He needed protection from these creatures that could fill a mans head with sweet promises and lies of death, not to hold one’s hand and him for an evening stroll before dinner. He needed _distance_.  

Yet here he was in his own house, under his own roof being tormented by his own mother about dating. Not only that, but she was literally pushing them both out of the house to go on what she saw as a date. Iwaizumi’s fever may have broken but he was still sore and physically tired. He didn’t really want to go to the beach but at this rate he wouldn’t have much of a choice. Maybe he could just take Oikawa to the park and let him _study_ the people there while Iwaizumi relaxed.

With that in mind he took a couple quick bites of the Okayu before it got too cold and changed his clothes per his mothers request. He tossed his covers knowing that his phone was lost in the mess somewhere. Sure enough it fell with a solid _thunk_ onto the floor and he grabbed it, trying to bring up the lock screen by pressing the button on the side. It didn’t light up or register at all so he assumed it had finally died. He was just putting it on the charger when Oikawa came bursting dramatically into his room.

“I’m so _glad_ you finally told your mom about us!” He said loudly his voice sounding as if he were relieved but his face full of sly mischief.

“What—no! Oikawa, _no_!”  Iwaizumi pointed sternly at the other.

“Isn’t this great!  We can finally stop hiding!”  Oikawa chirped as his mom appeared in the doorway looking at the scene with a soft smile.

“Mom, what did you _say_ to him?!”  Iwaizumi asked panicked, urgent eyes flying to his mother’s figure in the doorway.

“She just accepted our _love_ and _relationship_ into her home!” Oikawa said, “And because my parents _tragically_ kicked me out due to my sexuality, Auntie is letting me stay with you!” Oikawa grinned as he wrapped his arms around Iwaizumi in a tight hug.  

Iwaizumi automatically tensed and tried to push the other away feeling fear roll in his stomach. The few bits of food he had eaten churned with the anxiety and he felt his breath stop short. He was only seconds away from falling into flashbacks of colder arms dragging him down when Oikawa whispered in his ear, “You can consider this as payback for being so mean,”  and that was all it took to keep him present.

“Asshole,” Iwaizumi hissed as he successfully pushed Oikawa off of him, lest the other realize his hands weren’t steady.

“Well we better go!” Oikawa sang excitedly, “We finally get to go on our date after all!”

“Have fun boys,” his mother called before cautioning him with a, “and Hajime if you start feeling sick again, come straight home.”

“I feel sick again,” Iwaizumi moaned miseribly.

“Nonsense!  You’re just confusing excitement for all those other nasty feelings you keep bottled up all the time,” Oikawa said as he grabbed Iwaizumi’s hand and hauled him to the front of the house.  Iwaizumi tried to pull his hand back with an insult but Oikawa only tightened his grip and spoke over him, “We’re off!” he chirped happily.

“Have fun!” His mom called warmly back.

With that, Iwaizumi was dragged out of his house, shoes and all, before he was taken down the stairs and around the corner of their yard by someone who couldn’t even _climb_ stairs the day before. Once they were out of sight of the house Iwaizumi pulled his hand from Oikawa’s and put it in his pocket. Oikawa hooked his thumb in the pocket of the borrowed shorts he was wearing and gave a side glance at Iwaizumi who was pointedly ignoring him and the heat across his face. That whole situation had been extremely embarrassing and completely unnecessary.

Iwaizumi looked right and shuddered at the sight of the ocean’s rolling waves and glittering movements. It was normally so enticing and made him want to spend hours gazing at it but right now he wanted nothing to do with the ocean. It only reminded him of the previous night and how he had stumbled around in a storm and tried to save a person who wasn’t there. The pride he had expected to feel at reaching his entire arm in the water to retrieve the netting and the severely disappointing seaweed after spending years failing to get just his _toe_ in the water was nowhere to be found. He could only feel a vague sense of unease and it made him want to barf.

So when they came to the fork in the road he took the left path away from the ocean. Oikawa looked over his shoulder at the water as they walked further away from it and Iwaizumi spared a glance at the other. His face was impassive and impossible to read; it was difficult for Iwaizumi to tell if he was upset that they weren’t going for a walk on the beach like his mother suggested or not. He stopped trying to figure it out, telling himself that he didn’t care. That whatever Oikawa did shouldn’t matter to him. Except, it did. Everything was happening far too fast for Iwaizumi and Oikawa was pushing his boundaries too frequently. Deciding he didn’t care what Oikawa was thinking was easier and allowed him to put a little bit of much needed distance between them.

“Hajime-chan? Is that you?” 

A thin voice interrupted his thoughts as it wavered through his ears. He leaned forward a bit to look around Oikawa, grinning when he saw an elderly woman hunched over her cane. She had short curly white hair, large framed thick glasses, and was dressed in the same simple sea foam green dress that Iwaizumi had grown to associate her with. On her back was a tall basket of various herbs that she collected and later ground for medicines to sell.

“Mamaw!” Iwaizumi greeted, “Are you well?”

“These old bones are still creaking,” she laughed good naturedly her voice only barely reaching his ears, “Do you need a prescription refill?”

“Uh, no I still have enough,” Iwaizumi answered.

 Mamaw wasn’t his actual grandmother but it was the way she was called if you were taking any medications made by her. She knew many clever ways to combat the leftover trauma that Sirens inflicted on humans and her pills were mostly effective in keeping Iwaizumi stable. Her sudden appearance reminded him that he hadn’t taken a pill in a while and he made mental note to do so as soon as he got home, it should help keep him more level-headed around Oikawa.

“You sound stuffy dear, do you need something else?”  She asked, no doubt catching onto the cold that Iwaizumi was still recovering from.

“No, no it’s fine, really,” he laughed her off awkwardly as he scratched the back of his head. Leave it to mamaw to sniff out a stuffy nose in mere seconds.

She nodded once in acknowledgement before turning to Oikawa, “Who is this?”

“Uh…this is Oikawa,” he said simply.

“I’m his--,”  sensing the coming disaster Iwaizumi slapped a hand over Oikawa’s mouth and grinned at the old medicine woman before speaking over Oikawa’s muffled complaints:

 “Friend. He’s my friend, Mamaw,” Iwaizumi lied.

“It’s so good to see you with friends, Hajime-chan,” she grinned before reaching out a weathered hand to greet Oikawa with. Iwaizumi hesitantly let his hand slide from Oikawa’s mouth hoping that he got the freaking hint and wouldn’t say anything compromising.

 Oikawa took her hand with a charming smile, “Why do you call him chan?”  The old woman looked a little startled as she was probably expecting a general greeting and she faced Iwaizumi, a confused expression expanding on her face.

“Uhh, he’s not from around here Mamaw,” Iwaizumi explained awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his head. This was just becoming a giant mess.

“I see,” her expression warmed again and she turned to Oikawa, “it’s a suffix here for endearment. It only means I’m quite fond of my little Hajime.” 

“Oh!”  The bright expression on Oikawa’s sly face could only mean something bad was coming. Iwaizumi needed an out _fast_ , before things got worse.

“Well we have to go now Mamaw!” Iwaizumi said with a short laugh, wrapping an arm around Oikawa’s shoulders to push him forward, “We’re going to be late for night classes at this rate!” He lied.

“Do try to be on time…” she offered with a faint knowing smile before leaving them on their way.

“She’s kinda strange…” Oikawa mumbled with furled eyebrows as he tried to look back over his shoulder as Iwaizumi pulled him away.

“Shut up, she’s really sweet. She helps a lot of people around here. And anyway, you need to be careful around the older people here!  You can’t go blurting out lies like ‘he’s my boyfriend’ to them,” Iwaizumi huffed as he shoved his hands back into his pockets now that they were far enough away from Mamaw.

“Why not?” Oikawa asked, head cocking to the side as his piercing gaze landed on Iwaizumi.

“They’re almost all homophobic,” Iwaizumi explained with a shrug, “Most people don’t _‘come out’_ in the countryside. Once you’re in the city more people start coming out since it’s more accepted there, but here it’s pretty taboo.”

“I’m learning so much, Iwa-chan~” Oikawa grinned. Iwaizumi faltered in his steps, Oikawa did _not_ just…

“No. You _cannot_ call me that,” Iwaizumi hissed.

“You _said_ I get to call you by one nickname and this is what I’m choosing,” Oikawa announced firmly, “No taksie’s backsies.” He wagged his finger in Iwaizumi’s face with a cute pout on his face and a hand on his hip.

Iwaizumi just groaned and dragged his dominant hand down his face. This wasn’t going to help convince his mom that they definitely _weren’t_ a thing. If anything she would think they were more comfortable around her and in the home. This was a disaster. He wanted to go back to bed and pretend like none of this had ever happened.

“Come on Iwa-chan, show me more!” 

“And if I refuse?”

“I can still curse you, you know,” Oikawa huffed, arms crossed against his chest and his eyes narrowed.

“Of course you can,” Iwaizumi grumbled as he took the lead, “C’mon there’s a park this way.” 

“How romantic~” 

Iwaizumi turned his face towards Oikawa, his eyebrows pinched inward creating angry creases with his nose scrunched up in disgust, nostrils flared. His lip was curled in its automatic ‘say-more-and-I’ll-kill’ you fashion and he was grateful for the way that Oikawa let out a small peep of surprise before falling into apologies and then blessed silence. The walk was short after that and Oikawa seemed content enough to look at the plant life around him rather than harass Iwaizumi, so he couldn’t complain.

“Alright go do whatever it is you wanted to do,” Iwaizumi huffed as he sat his tired ass down on a park bench.

“Iwa-chan has to come with me!” Oikawa pouted, “Otherwise I won’t have any fun!!”

“Good, I’ll stay right here then.” 

“Iwa-chan you’re rude routine is getting old!” 

“Shoo, shoo,” Iwaizumi flicked his hands at Oikawa to put emphasis on his words. It only took a minute but Oikawa did leave with an unhappy huff of air.

Iwaizumi watched him go around inspecting things like a goddamn two year old who was at the park for the first time. He crouched down and touched the flowers, softly rubbing them between his fingers, before moving onto the grass, pressing his hands down into the dirt and smiling like an idiot to himself. He watched Oikawa toe his shoes off and press his feet into the grass as well. Iwaizumi sighed, if all Oikawa wanted to do was play in the dirt like a kid then why did Iwaizumi have to come along?  He didn’t even have his phone to distract him.

He sighed and watched Oikawa put his shoes back on before walking around the area of the park. He caught sight of the kids playing on the equipment and Iwaizumi could swear that he saw the other’s eyes light up. It was almost endearing the way he would watch how a kid played on something before waiting for them to leave so he could try it himself. Iwaizumi couldn’t help the bark of laughter when he fell off the swing for the first time. The fall earned a lot of stares and laughter from other kids but Oikawa only pouted at Iwaizumi.

“Iwa-chan, come help me!”  He whined, sitting in the dirt like a 2 year old as he flopped his arms at his sides, spitting up dirt and loose grass.

“No, do it yourself.”  Iwaizumi snorted.

Oikawa grumbled something at him but he did stand up and started watching children again. Iwaizumi watched him follow the children around playing on things after they were finished and it was only when one of the mothers called her son back to go home that Iwaizumi noticed all the other mothers looking warily at Oikawa. He groaned, of course Oikawa would look suspicious to them. Some strange college aged looking boy following their kids around and trying to play like they were?  It was creepy.

After the second child was called back, Iwaizumi sighed heavily and stood. He was going to have to intervene now, wasn’t he?  He tried to look as pleasant as he could while crossing the park in an effort to not further scare the mothers but as a third child was called back he knew it wasn’t working. Then Oikawa started talking to the kids and Iwaizumi knew they were done for.

“Oi,” Iwaizumi snapped cutting off Oikawa asking the probable 8 year old for the best swinging advice they had, “knock it off.”  He pulled on the back of Oikawa’s shirt, until he could no longer remain squatting and fell back on his ass with a loud squawk and flailing arms as the kids mother ran up to them.

“Ow, Iwa-chan!”  Oikawa whined as he struggled to his feet, wiping his clothes off while he did. Iwaizumi ignored him.

“I’m sorry about him,” Iwaizumi apologized to the mother as he jerked his thumb at Oikawa, “he’s just an idiot, please ignore him.” 

“…of course,” the mother agreed clearly nervous as she snagged her child’s hand and pulled them away.

Iwaizumi waited until she had gone back towards the benches before he let his fist fall on top of Oikawa’s head, “You’re being creepy stop stalking kids.” 

“I’m not _stalking_ them!” Oikawa balked, “I’m _studying_ their behavior!”

“That’s worse!”  Iwaizumi snapped before pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing, “What are you trying to learn here?” 

“I don’t understand how these things are fun,” Oikawa said with a frown, “there is nothing exciting about these pieces of plastic, wood, and metal yet these small humans laugh on them and keep coming back to them?  I don’t understand. So I tried to do what they were doing but it’s not going right and now my butt hurts and I _still_ don’t know what the appeal of these are.” 

“Sit down,” Iwaizumi huffed, his face warm as he gestured to the swings that Oikawa had been trying to master, “I’m only doing this once so you better just do it.” 

Oikawa grinned widely before skipping over to the swing and plopping down in it, his hands loosely holding onto the chains that it hung from. He looked back at Iwaizumi with big eyes and an open expression as his feet dragged on the ground. Iwaizumi sighed and bundled away his pride for the moment. The sooner he did this the sooner they could go home and he could pretend nothing happened. He stood behind Oikawa and moved to put his hands on Oikawa’s shoulders but hesitated. He didn’t really want to touch him more than he had to.

“Turn around, moron,” Iwaizumi huffed as Oikawa was still turned to stare at him, “and once I get you going you’ll have to pump your legs if you don’t want to stop..”

“What?”  Oikawa asked as he looked back again at Iwaizumi.

“Just shut up and let me do this!” Iwaizumi huffed out in embarrassment as he forced Oikawa’s head around to face front.

“So brutish!”  Oikawa huffed and Iwaizumi gave him a hard shoved on the back, “ _Hey!_ ” 

Iwaizumi ignored him and kept pushing as Oikawa returned to him. After the third time Oikawa began to understand and his stupid complaints fell silent. Eventually Iwaizumi got Oikawa high enough that it was just a pain to keep pushing him so he stepped back and moved around to sit on the swing next to Oikawa who was fully grinning at Iwaizumi. He looked so carefree and content that Iwaizumi found himself accidentally grinning back.  

“You’ll slow down if you don’t pump your legs,” Iwaizumi warned with a laugh.

Oikawa’s face fell and he proceeded to kick his legs in an uncoordinated manner, which sent him swaying from side to side as the swing moved, and Iwaizumi couldn’t help the laugh that burst from his lungs when one of Oikawa’s long legs smacked the supporting poles on the side. Of course Oikawa was whining about it and how he couldn’t understand what he was doing wrong and _why_ was Iwaizumi laughing at him?  Mean! 

“Like this,” Iwaizumi chuckled as he pushed off the ground and showed Oikawa how to properly self-propel.

Oikawa picked it up in no time like the annoying smartass he was showing himself to be, just as he did with the apples the night before. Of course children’s swing sets weren’t built for adults so with both of their weight putting strain on the weathered wood it began to creek dangerously and Iwaizumi let go of the chains on the side of the swing and leapt into the air falling into a well-practiced ark. His landing sent dirt and mud into the air as well as squished into the crevices of his toes. He lost a sandal in the mud when he tried to pull his foot free and before he could lean down to pick it up, Oikawa was face planting in the mud next to him, burying Iwaizumi’s sandal further.

Iwaizumi looked back at the swing set where Oikawa’s now empty swing twisted and spun in the air, tell tale signs of someone who had never jumped from a swing before. He looked back down to where Oikawa was pushing himself out of the mud he had landed in, spitting out slobbery globs of mud with a big pout on his dirty face as he tried to smear the mud from his eyes. Iwaizumi couldn’t help the hearty laugh that rumbled in his belly and shook his limbs. He wished he had gotten that on camera.

“That’s what you get for threatening to curse people!” Iwaizumi guffawed as he hugged his stomach.

“It’s not funny, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa whimpered. He flicked his wrists sending two chunks of mud splattering onto the ground before his fingers were back to digging at his eyes.

“You’re just going to work it more into your eyes, stop digging at it.”  Iwaizumi couldn’t help the laugh that was still in his voice making it lighter as he pulled off his sweater, “Move your hands.”

“It _hurts_ , Iwa-chan.”

“Of course it does, you just pushed mud into your eyes. Why _wouldn’t_  it hurt?”

 Iwaizumi knelt down and cupped the left side of Oikawa’s face with his hand as he began to use the sleeve of his sweater to pull the mud from Oikawa’s eyes. He pressed the fabric in close and dragged it away from the creases of Oikawa’s eyes until his long lashes could freely flutter open. His big brown eyes were surrounded by irritated pink and teary but his face was otherwise relaxed as he stared at Iwaizumi’s own eyes. Oikawa was actually kind of cute sitting with his hands in his lap and face tilted up towards Iwaizumis. His heart pounded hard in his chest once and Iwaizumi felt his face flush as he pulled his eyes away and let his hand fall. He tried to tell himself he _didn’t_ just think of Oikawa as ‘kind of cute’ but it wasn’t very effective. So he grabbed his mud covered shoe to escape the intensity of Oikawa’s stare.

“Thanks, Iwa-chan~” Oikawa grinned as he stood from the mud, his legs thoroughly slicked up with the muck.

“Whatever,” Iwaizumi grumbled out as he tied the ruined sweater around his waist; trying to avoid making any more eye contact, “just watch it next time.” 

“Next time?  So you’ll take me back?” Oikawa grinned as he draped himself onto Iwaizumis left side.

“Hell no,” Iwaizumi snapped as he shook Oikawa off, “you can come back by your goddamn self.” 

“But Iwa-chan,” Oikawa pouted, “It’s much more fun with you~”

“How would you know? You obviously haven’t been here alone before,” Iwaizumi huffed, “You don’t know the difference.”

“Don’t need to,” Oikawa said with a large grin as he folded his arms behind his head.

Iwaizumi gave an annoyed huff and left it at that, leading Oikawa from the park and back to his home. They had probably been out long enough to satisfy his mom anyway. Oikawa’s high engergy was wearing him down, and he wanted to properly eat cake with his mom before preparing for class tomorrow. He’d have to do something with Oikawa in that time too- it was all too tiring. So when Oikawa leaned his weight back on Iwaizumi’s shoulders he tried to tell himself the reason he didn’t shake him off again was because he was too exhausted.

“You stink, kusokawa.”

“I do not!” Oikawa said indignantly, “it’s the mud.”

“Whatever it is you need to scrub it off before you go in my house,” Iwaizumi huffed, “my mom would throw a fit if you tracked that through halls.

“Like Iwa-chan is one to talk! Your shoes are all gross too!” 

Iwaizumi fell silent again because it wasn’t like Oikawa was _wrong,_ he did have mud squished between his toes and smeared onto his leg, but Oikawa had literally face planted in the mess. He sighed out of his nostrils and changed their course for the beach where there were outdoor faucets installed that one could use to wash off sand before going home. It wouldn’t get them clean but it would do enough to make his mother not kick them out to the mercy of their own hose which was infinitely colder and less reliable than the ones here.

The beach looked the same as ever with its captivating waves illuminated by the evening sun and soft sand shadowed and depressed by previous beach goers and animals. As always it made Iwaizumi stop and stare for longer than he should have, but the usual feeling of being completely captivated was dulled. Before he had idiotically tried to go out in a storm to save someone who wasn’t even there, he found it hard to tear his gaze away from the waters. Now he felt as though he could look away on his own will if he wanted to without interruption from a third party, but there was also unease that churned in him which he blamed on yesterdays trauma.

Oikawa’s weight on his shoulder shifted and he glanced down at the other, his heart stuttering in his chest as he caught an unguarded look of serenity on the other’s face. A soft smile and warm eyes that reflected the motion of the distant water. Oikawa’s eyes themselves seemed to move before Iwaizuimi’s. They glittered and shifted from human-like large brown eyes to jeweled cuts of various shades of brown. They seemed to follow the motion of the ocean and Iwaizumi found his palms sweating and his heart racing. Oikawa’s eyes weren’t the same as the siren’s he had seen but they weren’t very different either.

Iwaizumi wasn’t sure if any of his classes or voyages on the sea had ever taught him a difference between mermaids and sirens. Usually if something had the face of a human and ass of a fish it was to be avoided at all costs, or killed if you had the skill. As he stared at Oikawa he noticed there were very subtle differences about him compared to the Siren that he still remembered as clear as day. Both of their features were pleasing to the eye but Oikawa’s were more soft and less angled than what he remembered of the Siren’s jutted stern chin. There was more warmth in the hue of Oikawa’s skin than the chilly hands that had gripped him and pulled him over the side of the boat. There was no grey complexion in Oikawa like in the Siren, the skin wasn’t stretched as tightly and it seemed that the Oikawa was more _human_ looking. But the eyes, they seemed to be nearly the same, just like jewels, but there was still something about Oikawa’s that was different. He could clearly remember the Siren’s eyes lit up and shining in the night. Mesmerizing eyes. Eyes that shined even as Iwaizumi was being dragged down and down to the bottom of the ocean to be the next meal.

Just like that Iwaizumi was pulled into the past unable to only focus on differences set out in front of him. Instead he began remembering the cold touch on his skin, the way his lungs ached and begged for breath that would never come, the crooked confident smile of the Siren- the pure panic in his chest that made his limbs shake and his eyes tear up. His body seemed to try and suck in an automatic breath only to be met with flooded lungs and pain of the memories. His ears were filled with the song he had heard so long ago and it’s sound was like a blanket of lies to make it all okay, telling him the longer he was down the better. He began to feel more at peace with death the longer he was being dragged.

But he didn’t remember the pure note he was currently hearing, the one that seemed to override the sound of the Siren’s. He didn’t remember the feeling of _safety,_ the feeling of knowing that he would make it home. He didn’t remember the feeling of light limbs and absolute comfort that he was feeling now. Like his very soul was being warmed from the inside. The way the Siren’s song quivered away into a tiny background noise and flickered out making room for the pure sound that rang in his ears. The way the feeling of _being_ returned to his limbs making them lighter, more _real,_ as opposed to the heavy detached feeling he had earlier.

The slowness in his breath the comfort of his beating heart and the sheer bliss of pulling in _air_ to fill his lungs. More than that, when he opened his eyes he didn’t remember seeing such brown, pure eyes in a Siren. Eyes slated in worry and sudden understanding as Iwaizumi came back to himself feeling more at peace than he ever had.

“Beautiful,” it slipped through his lips before he could stop it, before he was really fully aware of the meaning of the word that perfectly described the pure notes of song he was hearing. But he did register the sudden red on Oikawa’s cheeks and the instant end to the song. The comforting feelings left him almost instantly but he didn’t feel deprived, more like he felt comforted, and he realized that he had completely slipped from reality. He was sitting on the ground, back pressed against the fountains he had intended to wash away the mud in. Oikawa was sitting on his thighs, hands pressed in a restraining hold against his shoulders. He couldn’t recall moving from his standing position at all.

“You didn’t tell me you’ve run into a Siren before,” Oikawa mumbled as he shifted awkwardly on Iwaizumi, cheeks still dusted pink.

“How could you tell?” Iwaizumi asked his eyebrows furled together.

“I’m not stupid,” Oikawa huffed indignantly, “It’s obvious when someone’s going through Residual Heart.”

“What?” Iwaizumi felt like he was trying to understand a foreign language without a dictionary.

“Ugh I know, that translation really sucks,” Oikawa sighed as he settled back on Iwaizumi’s thighs hands still pressed on his shoulders, “It doesn’t really come close to the real meaning.”

“Which is?” Iwaizumi pressed.

Oikawa offered him an amused look from slanted eyes and a three quarter profile before he opened his mouth and cooed out a sound that was soft and charming to Iwaizumi’s ears. It seemed to cradle around his chest and he _felt_ significance but could not grasp its meaning. He could only blink at Oikawa and assume that whatever sound had just come from him was his mother language.

“You didn’t catch that at all did you?” Oikawa sighed looking like he had been hoping for something.

“Uh…something really…deep?” Iwaizumi suggested. He could only get feelings little snippets of what those sounds could mean. Just deep and important and Oikawa raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

“Are you making that up, Iwa-chan or did you really feel something?” 

“I feel it,” Iwaizumi answered honestly too confused to play word games, “in my…forehead?”

“…I wonder if it’s because of the Siren?” Oikawa murmured as he touched a finger to Iwaizumi’s forehead and swirled it around there.

Iwaizumi pushed the hand away and frowned, “What is Residual Heart and how did I end up on the ground?”

Oikawa laughed and moved to stand offering a hand to Iwaizumi as he did, which Iwaizumi took, “You were trying to go drown yourself and since I still need you around I took it upon myself to keep you down.”

Iwaizumi wasn’t sure what to say to that because thanks seemed too generous so he settled for a simple, “Ass.” 

“So mean Iwa-chan, after I saved you and everything.”

“After you _selfishly_ saved me,” Iwaizumi retorted, but he was grateful, “You never answered my other question…what’s Residual Heart?”

“It’s what you just let take you over. Getting lost in all of those sticky memories that plant you back into the past- it’s beacuse when a Siren takes a victim they embed a piece of their Heart into them. I’m assuming you were bitten?” Oikawa asked as he hooked a finger into Iwaizumi’s shirt and pulled the collar aside, looking for a scar.

“Uh..no.” Iwaizumi said with a curled lip, “I wasn’t.” He pushed Oikawa’s hand away from him with a narrowed look.

“Weird, usually that’s the first thing they do,” Oikawa murmured with a slight frown, “Oh well, they can embed it in more ways than one. Just meant you were intended as a meal and not necessarily a trophy,” Oikawa shrugged.

“You know what, nevermind,” Iwaizumi sighed as his body involuntarily shivered at the thought of being fish food, “Just…get cleaned up.” 

He ignored Oikawa’s reply and stood when the other moved off of him.  His legs were a little shaky but nothing he couldn’t handle. He pressed in the large silver button on the structure he had been leaning against before and let the water rush over his bare legs and feet. Oikawa followed suit, his shirt and shorts getting a little wet as he tried his best to clean out his face and hair. He hadn’t intended to continue the conversation as there was just too much he was trying to process at once, but Oikawa didn’t seem to be able to pick up on that.

“…I’m sorry…Iwa-chan.” 

Of all the things he could have said that was something Iwaizumi wasn’t expecting at all. It made his mind race with possibilities. He hadn’t known Oikawa very long but to Iwaizumi he seemed like the type that wouldn’t really apologize unless he felt it were absolutely necessary. Iwaizumi also couldn’t remember what sort of actions he had done while stuck in memories of the siren, but he did know that Oikawa was the one to pull him out. In addition, he felt _lighter,_ like his problems were far away and no longer weighed on his physical being. Like he could be as carefree as he was all those years ago. How he had gotten to this point he didn’t know but he assumed it had to do with whatever Oikawa was apologizing for.

“What did you do?” Iwaizumi asked apprehensively before adding, “I feel so…” He made a vague hand gesture unable to describe everything.

“I just sang,” Oikawa’s cheeks were red again, “But Iwa-chan thinks that part of me is disgusting so…I’m sorry, but it was the only way…”

“You mean you used that magi-er-Heart thing?”  Iwaizumi tried to avoid the usage of the word magic as Oikawa seemed to react negatively to it. While he did mind being manipulated through something like _Heart_ he knew what the alternative was and if Oikawa said it was the only way then he supposed he could let it slide once. _He_ sure as hell didn’t know any other way to escape his flashbacks without interference from a third party.

“Yeah…” Oikawa mumbled before it seemed as if he pulled up barriers from literally nowhere and he became as haughty as he was when Iwaizumi first met him on the beach, “Good wasn’t it!  I _am_ one of the best you know.” 

“It was okay,” Iwaizumi shrugged with a sly grin understanding that Oikawa was trying to protect himself from Iwaizumi’s harsh words from that morning. He supposed he deserved much worse than a high guard.   

“Rude,” Oikawa huffed as he scrubbed the last of the mud from his skin, “After I went out of my way to pull you from your own trauma…” 

“I guess you’re okay,” Iwaizumi shrugged a very hidden ‘thank you’ in his speech.

“I guess you’re not so bad for a human but you still owe me!,” Oikawa declared haughtily as he flipped his hair making the swirls bounce eyes determined and narrowed at Iwaizumi. They looked completely human.

“Yeah, yeah,” Iwaizumi sighed with a roll of his eyes, “Come on, my mom is waiting with cake.”

“I’ve never had cake before…” Oikawa mentioned looking curious.

“That so?” Iwaizumi asked with a soft smile as they walked away from the beach.

He supposed in more than one way he did owe Oikawa.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also do you guys want me to respond to your comments or would you prefer eternal silence? 
> 
> I'll also be updating my writing blog about Take Me Down progress as well so if you are curious about how things are going follow me at koi-ink.tumblr.com! Feel free to shoot me any questions you have pertaining to the fic or even myself! I'd love to answer them!!
> 
> As always thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!  
> Leave your thoughts/impressions in a comment~


	4. Changing Tides

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Iwaizumi bonds with his friends and gets K.O.ed by meme team kings while simultaneously having the walls of his guard invaded and encroached upon by all parties. Oikawa makes some mistakes that may end up pushing Iwaizumi further from him but hey, mermaids know how to make things better right! right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys I know it's been AGES since I've posted (a whole 7 months actually). I just wanted to say that it's because of the arm wrestling war my beta and I are caught in with life. I've recently moved countries and come back to the states and graduated college. whooo. SO that means I have a lot of problems with finances and loans and when I came back I came back unemployed. I finally got a job but not in my field of study (typical) so I work at a hospital now. I'll be working nights so there's a fair amount of adjustment on my schedule but only because I've been training days for so long now. (I was fine on Japans schedule but alas training killed that.) In addition to my own life problems my beta is having the college blues/problems so please please please understand that we try to work as fast as we can while maintaining quality!!!

“Iwa-chan.”

He let the tension in his neck release and forehead crack against his knees as an annoyed breath, which was unrelated to the moist sand dampening the seat of pants, wheezed from his lungs, it had only been _ten_ minutes since they meandered to the beach; as was Iwaizumi’s normal morning routine.  The sun hadn’t even quivered into sight beyond the breaking waves. Apparently, it was too much for him to expect any peace and quiet during his habitual ocean staring.  It should have been obvious that placidity was never going to happen, especially not as the other started fidgeting. It became obvious to him when Oikawa’s persistent stare bored into the side of his head in the mermaids desperate attempt to steal his attention, and when that didn’t work...

“Iwa- _chan_ ,” Oikawa whined petulantly making it clear that he had no patience for being ignored.

“Does it go against your genetic coding to be quiet?” A resigned response finalized the end of his peaceful silence and Oikawa scoffed in offense; a hand rising up to perch on his chest as his jaw dropped in disbelief.  

“Does it go against yours to be _nice_?” Oikawa huffed, his arms crossing as his cheeks puffed out.

“Yes,” Iwaizumi shot back.

Oikawa exhaled sharply through his nose unhappy with his answer, shaking his head in exasperation and let his hands sink back into his lap; the charade crumbling, “Why are we sitting here?” He asked, “Is this some sort of religious thing that humans do?”

“If you don’t want to sit here then don’t.” Iwaizumi shrugged before gesturing to the ocean, “You can go back at any time.”  

“I didn’t say I didn’t _want_ to! I just want to know _why_!”  

Iwaizumi didn’t need to look over to know that Oikawa was sporting one of his gross infamous pouts that Iwaizumi had the utter misfortune of recognizing by the ruffle of his clothes alone; the one where he pushed his lower lip out as far as he could and pulled the corners down until his chin dimpled.  His eyebrows were probably pinched together in a way that demanded the answers he sought but still conveyed his overwhelming frustration.  Sure enough as Iwaizumi let his gaze slide to his right, he was met with the Pout™.   

“Just because,” he dismissed, making Oikawa huff.  Before any complaints could drag down his morale further, Iwaizumi offered him a brief, “It makes me feel better.”

“You’re still sick?” Oikawa’s Pout™ melted away into a confused frown.

“No, not a physical thing,” Iwaizumi sighed, “Just a mental thing.”

“I don’t get it.”

There was a pause as Iwaizumi chewed on the inside of his cheek.  Answering that question would mean delving into who Iwaizumi used to be--who he still wanted to be--and he still wasn’t sure he wanted to share so much.  Ultimately, it was the unblinking stare fixed on him that made him feel uncomfortable enough to expand.  He told himself it was just because he wanted that unnerving stare directed elsewhere.  

“I used to live out there,” Iwaizumi answered while wringing his hands, feeling awkward as he revealed a bit about his life, “Our boat, the ocean, _that_ used to be my home.  I would see my mom maybe a few times every couple of months and be home for the stormy season.  Stock her up on enough fish to get us through dead time and once it was over I was gone again.”

He didn’t mention the constant presence of his father on the voyages they took together.  Nor did he go as far as to tell Oikawa that when his mother and father were spending time together during their returns that he would take his own dinghy out as far as his arms could take him, to just _float_ there on the water. He refused to share anything more than the bare minimum that would satiate Oikawa’s intense curiosity, without risking the exposure of his personal life. Hopefully that would help to stave the flow of bittersweet memories of the past that were already overwhelming him. 

“Iwa-chan misses it?” His voice was soft and encouraging as his eyes flickered towards the glittering waves on the surf.

“Don’t you?” Iwaizumi’s voice broke as he directed the question properly, looking straight at Oikawa for the first time since they had settled in the sand.  He knew mermaids were creatures of the sea and no matter how comfortable Oikawa pretended to appear on land, he wasn’t made for it.  There had to be _some_ part of him that missed the water. The lull of the waves, the warmth of the sun, and the salty breeze.  

“No.”  Oikawa’s face turned cold and he pushed his shoulders up towards the bottoms of his ears before looking out at the waves with a dark look.  

“…Guess you wouldn’t miss something you can go back to at any point.”  Bitterness seeped through the carefully constructed walls of his guard to ooze over his words like a sticky drug.  He couldn’t hide the prickle of irritation that rose up at Oikawa’s dismissal of the ocean, the thing he took for granted--the thing he was _choosing_ to be away from.  Iwaizumi couldn’t comprehend it.  If he could live out there without needing to come back, he would.  He’d want to come back of course, he had friends now and his mother couldn’t be left alone all the time, he’d worry; but still.    

“Is your boat broken?” Oikawa inquired, knees bending as his arms wrapped around his shins.

“No,” Iwaizumi said as his eyes slid over to where his boat was tied to the docks, where it had patiently aged for the past _million_ years.  

“Then why don’t you go?” Oikawa asked while lying his cheek on his right knee.

“Because I _can’t_.”  

“I don’t get it.”

“That sucks.”  Iwaizumi snapped, ending the conversation.  

He could feel Oikawa’s scrutinizing look as the awkward silence choked him and he was left ignoring the way the other hummed carefully in thought.  The action of leaning back and trying to relax was obviously forced by the way that his limbs jittered and muscles tensed; trying to let his thoughts wander in an attempt to better feign relaxation only ended with him facing stark reality. He expected to bring Oikawa along through his classes and needed to gather his energy for the day, as there were too many ties that could come undone in just minutes if someone asked the right question.

As if all that wasn’t enough he was under the threat of being cursed and his mom thought they were dating.  Subsequently, Iwaizumi was forced to entertain Oikawa; meaning bring him to ‘human school’ to learn ‘human things’ which would ultimately satisfy both of them but leave _him_ miserable. Not to mention he still had to figure out something to tell his teammates because with his mother’s insistence of them being a _couple_ it was only a matter of time before Makki or Mattsun found out via text-message-gone-wrong that Oikawa wasn’t some damsel in distress. Sometimes he regrets the fact that they got along so well with his mother.  

“ _Captain_ you sly _dog_! You didn’t tell me the shipwreck-ee was a class A _cu-tie_!”

Think of the devil and he shall come.  Iwaizumi only had himself to blame.

“Makki,” Iwaizumi sighed as he jabbed his thumb to his right, “Oikawa.  Oikawa, Hanamaki.”  

“Oikawa Tooru!” Oikawa chirped seeming to catch right on to what Iwaizumi was doing as he offered a big smile and hopped to his feet.  Iwaizumi didn’t miss the pensive look in Oikawa’s eyes at the other took in every inch of Hanamaki.  It made an urge of protectiveness curl up in his gut and he jolted to his feet and slung his arm around Hanamaki’s shoulders before the other could give his full name back.

“I didn’t tell you he was cute because he’s just _annoying_ ,” Iwaizumi huffed as he led Hanamaki away much to the others confusion, “It distracts from his button nose and marble eyes.”  

“Who pissed in your cheerios this morning?”

“Iwa-chan didn’t have Cheerios,” Oikawa cut in as he hoisted his borrowed bag onto his shoulder and jogged after them, “Auntie did.”  

It was too late to stop the storm.  Iwaizumi could see it as soon as that god forsaken _nickname_ left Oikawa’s mouth; Hanamaki’s eyes had already widened in shock and his rapid blinking signaled a malfunction going off somewhere in his brain.  Iwaizumi just let out a heavy sigh before closing his eyes and praying for early death because surely it would be kinder than this.  

“…There something that you’d like to share with the rest of the class here?” Makki asked suspiciously while giving Iwaizumi his take-no-shit, firm pressed expression.  

“Not really.  It’s a long story of bullshit and ignorance to our culture,” Iwaizumi huffed.

“I’m _not_ ignorant, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa interjected with a whine, “And you _didn’t_ have Cheerios.”  

“This isn’t about the goddamn—ugh,” Iwaizumi sighed harshly, “Just…nevermind.”  

Hanamaki let out a thoughtful breath through his nose as his lips remained pinched together, eyes narrowed.  Iwaizumi knew he was soaking everything in; from Oikawa’s style of speech to Iwaizumi’s treatment towards him.  Makki was smart, there was no way he’d be able to keep up the ‘shipwreck story’ for long.  He was just lucky that Makki was patient; Iwaizumi knew him well enough to say he wouldn’t press him for awhile.  Hopefully enough time for Iwaizumi to come up with something solid.  

He partially tuned out Oikawa and Hanamaki’s conversation as they walked to the train station- _completely_ ignored them during the ride and chewed over anything and everything he could to figure out a convincing lie.  By the time they had gotten to their station he had dismissed long lost cousin, half-brother, and his mothers’ friends child who came to stay with them due to her death.  There were too many inconsistencies and none of those were dire enough justify lying about Oikawa’s fake identity to his team.  

They would sniff out the lie in seconds.  

“You alright?”  

The sudden proximity of Makki’s voice made him jump and he looked up from where he had been glaring at the ground, completely oblivious to the fact that they were in the gym already.  Half of the team was already dressed and stretching, peering oddly at who he presumed to be Oikawa. However, when he turned the other wasn’t there and he realized the curious looks were directed at him. He whirled his head around to the other side of the gym unable to see hide nor tail of that stupid cowlick or overly bright curious eyes.  

“Where did Oikawa go?”

“I sent him to introduce himself to coach.” Makki said, stopping Iwaizumi from leaving by grabbing his arm, “Hey, I got rid of him for a reason, are you okay?”

“Just stressed,” Iwaizumi sighed, “You just wouldn’t _believe_ how much you have to babysit him.  Drives me up a _wall_.”  

Hanamaki pulled back with a surprised blink of his eye and a tilt of his head, “Did something happen?”

“What do you mean?” Iwaizumi asked apprehensively.  

“You’re usually all _‘I’m fine. Just gotta go now,’_ ” Makki said, his voice deepening into a terrible impression of Iwaizumi, “and then you blow us off and pretend like nothing is wrong.  It’s just, it usually takes more pressing to get an explanation out of you.  So I repeat, what happened?”

“I’m not like-,” he cut himself off at Makki’s pointed look and tightened grip on his arm.  Okay maybe lately he had the tendency to try and smooth his friends worries over with meaningless words; It just seemed easier for him to try and get away without explaining.  The sweet possibility of them _allowing_ him get away with lying was usually too tempting for him to explain himself.  This time, however, the answer had come smoothly— he didn’t have to think about it.  He shrugged, “I guess something had to of happened.”

“It’s not like it’s a bad thing,” Makki shrugged, “You’re just usually more emotionally constipated.”  

“I’m am _not-_ ,”

“Iwa-chan _is_ emotionally constipated!” Oikawa’s voice was loud behind him making him grit his teeth and let out a tired sigh, “That’s a _perfect_ description!”

“I’m a man of perfect words,” Makki grinned widely as he wrapped an arm around Iwaizuimi’s shoulders, “Isn’t’ that right _Iwa-chan_.”

“Alright enough of this,” Iwaizumi huffed annoyed before he projected his voice so everyone could hear him, “Let’s start with some laps!”  

There was the general disdain of groans that came with the order for running but the team did rise from their various positions to start.  Iwaizumi pulled off his cover sweats as Hanamaki jogged away to join the rest of the group.  Iwaizumi kicked their stuff under the benches with the back of his leg and was about to join the others in laps when a hand wrapped around his bicep stopping him.

“Iwa-chan what am I supposed to do?”

“Run,” Iwaizumi said shortly as he pulled away and joined the rest of the team; Oikawa following close behind.

“No ditching today!  You have to come to Mikes!”  Bokuto called from behind him before slapping him hard on the back, “We’ll see you there.”

Iwaizumi could only nod after him, breath knocked from his lungs, as Bokuto passed him shoulders firm and resolute.  His back tingled with the non-verbal communication that words would make too painful.  It was a greeting and a declaration of relief all in one; the heaviness of _welcome back_ on his shoulders and stinging pain across his skin accompanying the wet emotion of _thank god you’re safe_ in the heat of the throbbing.  If he had worried Bokuto this much— one of the most happy-go-lucky guys on the team, who knew how much he had worried the others.

“Bo’s right you know,” Matsukawa said as he came up behind him, “We’re going to make you socialize, especially if it kills you.”

Another hit bloomed across his back before Matsukawa fell back again.

“Welcome back, Captain,” Akaashi said simply as he clapped him on the shoulder.

“You can’t keep that cutie all to yourself at Mikes, _Iwa-chan_ ,” Hanamaki said in his ear a wicked grin on his face as he smacked him hard enough to upset his balance.  

“No offence captain,” Yahaba said with a scarily pleasant smile as he took Makki’s place, a hand on his shoulder to keep him steady, “but never do something so idiotic again.”  

Yahaba’s slap on his back was more of a bitterness than anything.  Something that screamed, _don’t you know how much you worried us?_  It weighed heavily on his shoulders.  He was starting to get a feel for how scared they must have been and began to understand that they were doing this purposefully to point out his own obliviousness regarding it.

He turned around, mostly to glare at Hanamaki for his hard hit, but was taken aback by the steady and concentrated stare that Kunimi was directing towards him.  He only tilted his head forward slightly as if to say he agreed with what everyone else had said while Kindaichi swallowed hard and muttered out a quiet,

“Welcome back.”  

It was almost overwhelming until he caught Oikawa’s confused face as he surveyed the team with calculating eyes that contradicted his expression.  They were focused and hard pressed as he ran, nearly effortlessly, while surveying the team.  It was unnatural how seamlessly he fit in with the rest of the team as he was flanked by Yahaba who struck up a quiet conversation with him. Iwaizumi let his eyes wander to the rest of the team, all of whom were back to pretending like they hadn’t just emotionally beat him up.  He took in a breath and released it in one steady _whoosh_ , unable to stop his grin; he really loved his teammates.

“Listen up,” he said loudly and the quiet conversations stopped, “I was only gone for a day, don’t y’all think you’re overacting a bit?  It’ll take more than some silly storm to take me down, so shut up and focus on practice and passing your damn classes so we can keep this team functioning, I don’t need anymore Kyoutanis, alright.  And then, we’ll go to fuckin’ Mikes.”  

The resounding “Yes, Captain” that came from the team was enough to make his eardrums ache and for the coaches to look up from their clipboards.  He only nodded assuredly and pressed forward.

Practice had been more brutal than he had intended to make it but with each of Oikawa’s irritating success he found himself wanting to push himself and his team to show that they hadn’t been fucking around all season and they were in fact more capable than a mermaid who had just been exposed to the sport. He blamed Oikawa’s supernatural abilities for his quick understanding of the rules and natural tosses.  He had learned how to spike in record time and even managed to get a few mock points in.  

It ground on Iwaizumi’s nerves.

How could someone who had literally tripped up _stairs_ excel in volleyball only days later?  It’s something that required years of practice and play time to properly understand. He began to feel all of his missed practices and late mornings undermined from prioritizing his ocean watching and as a result ended up pushing himself—and his team—too far.  It was to the point where he knew Kunimi wasn’t even going to attempt the pretense of going to class and would instead skip straight to a nap in the quad.  

It only got worse when Coach approached him as the rest of the team collapsed against the wall to scarf down their after-practice bentos.  He shooed Oikawa away so he could properly listen to his coach without the worry of someone looming over his shoulder; the asshole didn’t even look exhausted, only mildly inconvenienced.  Iwaizumi wiped away the beads of sweat from his upper lip as he gave a short bow of recognition to his elder.

“Is he going to be staying here?  Enrolling in the college?” Of course, Coach Irihata was talking about Oikawa.

“I’m not sure,” Iwaizumi answered honestly.  Oikawa was unpredictable and random.  He wasn’t sure how long humans would hold the mermaids attention or if it would be a permanent obsession.  He could be gone in a week for all Iwaizumi knew and hoped for.

“If he does, convince him to join the team.  I’ve never seen anyone pick up formations so quickly,” Irihata said with a damn twinkle in his eye, “He could be a real asset.”

In his shock, Iwaizumi could only answer with a short, “Yes, sir,” and a baffled nod at the retreating form of his coaches back.  There were many things Iwaizumi didn’t want to do and convincing Oikawa to join their college volleyball team was near the top of the list.

“Iwa-chan~,” Oikawa’s voice still had energy in it and Iwaizumi was half tempted to order him to do more laps, “Come eat!”  

The promise of food outweighed making Oikawa suffer and he grabbed his morning bento bag and plopped down between Mattsun and Oikawa where there was space for him.  Beside him Oikawa was talking a mile a minute to Hanamaki about how Iwaizumi’s mother had so _kindly made him a lunch that morning_ , and it would be his _first homemade lunch_ , and he was _so excited_.  Iwaizumi was ready to tune him out, that is until Oikawa was loudly ooing and awing at how cute the little heart shaped ham was.  

“Even your onigiri is heart shaped…” Makki seemed equal parts confused and amused.  

Horrified, Iwaizumi turned to look at the bento to verify the sight of heart shaped ham and onigiri.  It didn’t end there, the entire two part lunch had cute lovey designs and an overwhelming amount of pink.  Iwaizumi gingerly placed a hand over his own and _prayed_ for a normal non-pink lunch.  He pulled the lid off and just as quickly slapped it back on; his face turning as pink as his ham heart that perfectly matched Oikawa’s.  

Bokuto’s “Oh ho-ho?” ultimately gained the attention of the entire team.  

Beside him Matsukawa placed his chin on his hand and gave a sly grin to Iwaizumi, “Why don’t you open your bento, captain?”  

“Shut up,” Iwaizumi hissed but it was too late; the entire team’s focus was on him fully as they were all too familiar with the teasing drawl of Mattsun’s doxxing voice.  Before they could all see the mess that was Oikawa’s lunch, Iwaizumi hazardously slapped the lid back on top.  

“Iwa-chan, I wanted to eat that,” Oikawa’s whines and stupid nicknames weren’t helping _at all_.

“Shut up,” he hissed again, “and _stop_ calling me that.”  

Oikawa Pouted™ and crossed his arms, “You _said_ I could call you by any nickname of my choosing!”  

“ _Not. Helping.”_  For not the first time, Iwaizumi wished Oikawa would _take a hint_.   

“Could this be?” Mattsun teased as he muscled Iwaizumi’s bento away while he was distracted with Oikawa.  He pulled the lid off and gasped in a mock shocked manner with the back of his hand pressed to his forehead Dramatically™, “A _lovers quarrel?_ ”  

Hanamaki took this time of Iwaizumi’s distracted horror and hisses for the return of his lunch to pull the top off of Oikawa’s lunch and dramatically press the back of his hand, still holding the lid, to his forehead, “A lover’s quarrel!” He confirmed in a much louder voice sounding scandalized.  

There were far too many “oh’s” of understanding from the team and Iwaizumi honestly thought Bokuto was going to have an aneurism with the way his mouth was hanging open.  He only wanted to bury his bright red face in his hands for the rest of his life and maybe just die right where he sat.  Why would his mother do this to him? Did she hate him? Was this her way to try and encourage them? Did she think this was a form of support?  

“Iwa-chan, I don’t get it,” Oikawa piped up unhelpfully.

“Couples Bento,” he mumbled behind his hands, “my mom made us _couples_ bento.”

“Oh!” Oikawa chirped surprisingly happy, “Iwa-chan’s mom is so supportive!”

“Oh so this _is_ a thing?”  Mattsun teased as he lifted the container for the team to see properly.  

“No. No it’s _not_ a thing,” Iwaizumi denied as he tried to get his food back.  His bright red face and ears did not help to prove his point.

“Oh…” Oikawa said quietly as if he had just figured something out before he turned to Iwaizumi and loudly whispered, “Iwa-chan is this one of the areas that you talked about? You know the one with homophobic people where we can’t talk about our relationship?”  

Iwaizumi just groaned because now there was absolutely nothing he could do to prevent the team from thinking they were a couple.  He was screwed.  Absolutely screwed.  One look at Oikawa showed a face of thinly veiled amusement and full understanding behind the half baked mask of innocence.  

His   _“I hate you_ , _”_ was lost in Bokuto’s bellow of, “But AkAaAshi! They’re _so_ cute!”  

“Let’s get this straight okay—,”

“—I’m starting to see that nothing about you is straight, captain.”

“Hanamaki, shut up,” Iwaizumi sighed, “We _aren’t_ dating.”

“That’s not what you said to your mom last night, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa piped up a mischievous glint still sparkling in his eye as he ate his bento with a Pout™ that looked too real.

“That’s _exactly_ what I told my mother last night,” Iwaizumi said loudly over the ‘ooing’ of his teammates, “this is not what you guys think it is.”

“Then what is it, Iwaizumi-san?” Akaashi asked with a level look.  

Iwaizumi froze in place unsure of what to say because he obviously couldn’t carry on with the refugee story as no one could believe that anymore.  He still hadn’t come up with a convincing cover either so he sat there trying to process but ultimately panicked amidst mutters of _‘that’s what I thought’_ rang around him and the team returned to their lunches.  A heavy slap on the back from Matsukawa brought him back to enough awareness to at least dejectedly turn his head towards the other as he smirked at him.

“Nothing to be ashamed of, lover-boy.”

Iwaizumi groaned and sunk further to the floor.   His day had barely begun and already, sitting at the bottom of the ocean seemed like a better way to spend his time. The thought surprised him, not because he had never _had_ the thought, but because that particular thought hadn’t occurred recently. Which seemed odd to him because he was 50x more stressed than usual and felt as if he would do anything just to send Oikawa back to the ocean.  

Miserably, he let his gaze jitter over to where said mermaid-in-disguise was happily munching on his food, locked in conversation with Hanamaki who looked just as amused as he did hurt.  Iwaizumi’s heart squeezed painfully but found his mind to be stuck in turmoil unrelated to his friend.

He wanted Oikawa to return to where he came from and save him the grief but at the same time, there was something incredibly strange about him that drew Iwaizumi in.  Not necessarily in the sense where he wanted to get to know Oikawa more but instead how he had used a nightlight as a toddler to ward off fears of the dark; a strange comfort.  Only this time, it was like walking around with a nightlight whose batteries were about to burn out, never knowing when the other shoe would drop and he would suddenly be plunged into darkness while Oikawa became the murderous monster that Iwaizumi knew sea life to be.

“Hey.” Mattsun interrupted his thoughts with a hand on his shoulder; ducking his head a little to meet the downward gaze of Iwaizumi’s eyes, “Don’t forget you actually _have_ to eat.  We’ll back off.”

“Yeah,” Iwaizumi sighed while taking his bento from Mattsun’s outstretched hand, “thanks.”  

“So how long have you two been together?” Bokuto piped up curiously as Iwaizumi raised a bite of pink and white rice to his mouth.

“ _Dude_!” Matsukawa chastised, “I _just_ said—,”

“It’s okay,” Oikawa chirped, “we don’t mind! Do we, Iwa-chan~”  

Iwaizumi’s eyebrow twitched spastically--he wanted to punch him.  He just _knew_ that asshole was getting payback for _something_ he had denied him, he just didn’t know which instance in particular Oikawa was getting revenge for.

“Maybe _you_ don’t but _I_ do,” Akaashi, Iwaizumi’s literal savior, cut in as he pulled Bokuto back, “I’d like to eat in peace, Bokuto-san.”

Iwaizumi hoped his look towards Akaashi carried all the ‘thank yous’ flowing from his very essence, finally able to eat the first bite of his post practice bento. He’d have to talk to his mom about this kind of embarrassing stuff.  Not only was it completely unnecessary—even if he _had_ _been_ dating someone—but it was mortifying for his teammates, none of whom understood the meaning of “forgive and forget”, to see something like _couples_ bento.

With the sound of Bokuto not so quietly arguing with Akaashi over what questions he was and wasn’t allowed to ask, Iwaizumi finished his meal.  He packed up the plastic containers, stacking them appropriately before tucking them away in the cloth his mother had wrapped around them. A quick glance at the clock showed he had enough time to get a coffee before his lecture and still arrive a comfortable five minutes early. He stood with an air of finality about him and faced his team,

“Alright let’s bring it in,” he said loudly ceasing conversation around him, “I know I worked you harder than usual today but that’s not an excuse to slack off in class—looking at you Kunimi—so study up and then after the day is over we’ll relax at Mikes.  Don’t forget the first and second years are in charge of clean up today.”  

There was a resounding “Yes, Captain” from the team, even Kunimi who was pulling a face at being called out nodded curtly as he shouldered his bags.  

As Iwaiuzmi moved to grab his bags he assumed, by the footsteps echoing after him, that Oikawa was obediently following but the hand that grabbed his arm was smaller and far more familiar.  He was jerked away from the benches and shoved into the locker room by Makki who had, based upon a glance over his shoulder, pinned Mattsun with Oikawa Distraction Duty.  Whatever this was, it couldn’t possibly end well.  

“We need to talk,” Hanamaki said seriously.  

“I kinda figured that out when you dragged me in here and somehow managed to convince everyone else not to interfere,” Iwaizumi answered while pulling away from Hanamaki’s grip and leaning back against one of the lockers, a pretense of appearing calm when in reality his heart was pounding in his chest.

“I know some fucked up things run around in your head sometimes but this stonewalling bullshit of lying to us about having a boyfriend is insulting.”

“Not beating around the bush I see,” Iwaizumi stated his voice weaker than he would have liked.

“I’m serious.  Did you think that we would hate you? That we would somehow think you’re less of a person than you are?” His face reflected the question, stern and unmoving, shielding the hurt behind it, “Do our years of friendship even mean anything to you?”

“I would have told you if we were dating but we _aren’t_!” Iwaizumi hissed as he shoved himself away from the lockers, his words carrying a sharper tone as his panic manifested into anger.

“…I guess it doesn’t because it’s _painfully_ obvious that you _are_ and I’ve never even _met_ this guy,” Hanamaki said his voice and face tight while his hands clenched into fists at his sides, “If you want to keep on blocking us out I can’t stop you, but it’s getting to be ridiculous. We’re supposed to be your _friends_.”

The words cut deep but the unshed tears in Hanamaki’s eyes stopped his breath. He could look away but it wouldn’t stop the sharp slicing through his chest or the tight clenching of his heart, because they _were_ his friends and he was supposed to be able to be completely honest with them.  He should have been able to rely on them and while it _was_ true that he hadn’t been relying on them for most things, he still let them support and help him on his own terms.  Iwaizumi knew he hadn’t been the same since the incident but he still thought he was at least a good friend despite his changes.  Clearly, in this instance, the truth was hurting more than it was helping and Iwaizumi hated to leave things as they were.

“Wait, wait just…” Iwaizumi grabbed Hanamaki’s arm as he made to leave, his muscles taut underneath Iwaizumi’s grip, “You’re right…you’re right, I’m being, really shitty.  It’s just that…well, you never met him because I _just_ met him three days ago in the storm. _Honest_.”

“Seriously?” His thin eyebrow rose to hover near his hairline, his expression doubtful but shoulders turning expectantly towards Iwaizumi.

“Dead serious,” Iwaizumi answered in a breath, relieved that Hanamaki was at least more open to listening now, “I don’t mean to block you out…I don’t.  You are my friends and I want to share more with you but at the same time I don’t want to hurt you.  There are some things you’re just better off not knowing.”

“Like that you’re gay?” Hanamaki asked incredulously.

“Okay, no,” Iwaizumi sighed, “I’m not gay I’m bi, there is a difference and I didn’t tell you because I just didn’t think that it was relevant, not because I was scared to tell you.”

“I believe that,” he said with a small smirk, “what I’m having a hard time believing is that you’re dating a guy you just met three days ago.  You’re not the type.”  

Yep, Makki was right, he definitely was not the type.  He was the kind of person who spent a lot of time—probably more than was necessary—getting to know someone before the thought of dating ever even crossed his mind.  He was the type to be completely oblivious to any form of affection from a second party and overlook any potential partners because his past love for the sea and current _issues_ were his first priority; romance was the furthest thing from his mind.  Dating someone after knowing them for three days was as uncommon as Christmas in July and snow on mars.  it just didn’t happen.  

“He’s a penpal,” Iwaizumi heard himself say in a rush the instant the thought crossed his mind.

“A…penpal?”

“Mamaw recommended one for me,” he lied, “she said if I had a hard time communicating my, uh, thoughts to my friends in person that I see everyday then I should try someone I’ll never meet who was willing to listen.”  

It was a stretch, he knew.  Iwaizumi wasn’t the type to willingly seek out something as mundane and time consuming as penpalling but Hanamaki knew Mamaw.  If he thought that she had asked Iwaizumi to do it then the chances of his story being believed increased and he could avoid hurting his friends feelings anymore than they already were.  As he watched the slow acceptance start to form on Makki’s face he felt the pieces of a fool-proof plan falling into place--ones that would fit with what Oikawa told his mother as well.

“So he’s not a shipwreck victim and he’s not an islander but…your penpal? Who is? Moving? Visiting?” Makki turned to face Iwaizumi fully his arms stuffed down into his practice shorts.

“He uh…came out to his parents and they kicked him out.  Small island like his doesn’t take homosexuality well, ya know, and the only other person he knew was…me, so here he is…”  Iwaizumi said awkwardly scratching the back of his head and hoping to god that this would hold up, “So, I mean, I didn’t tell you about him because I didn’t think a penpal was relevant and I _really_ didn’t think that he would be _moving_ in with me.”

“Then why not just tell us from the start?” Hanamaki pouted and Iwaizumi refused to acknowledge the perception of cuteness that accompanied the action.  

“C’mon Makki,” Iwaizumi said while looking towards the door, “That’s not fair to Oikawa…just to out him like that.  He talks big but he’s still adjusting, and shit, him talking like we’ve been together for forever is fucking embarrassing.”

Makki scratched the back of his head and his cheeks dusted pink as the realization that he had basically forced Iwaizumi to admit something that didn’t only affect him, settled.  He nodded once and then twice, “Yeah no you’re right.  Shit yeah, sorry I just, I hate it when you shut us out like that…felt like you were lying through your teeth like we’d turn on you or something.”

“No, I know you better than that,” Iwaizumi offered as his stomach churned because he _was_ lying to Makki and while it made his friend feel better he felt _worse_.  He couldn’t wait for Oikawa to grow bored of humans and just _leave._ He wanted normalcy in his life again and for the past four years it had been too fucking much to ask for apparently.

“Good,” Makki said with a sharp nod, “then go on and show him around and whatever.  Has he enrolled in the school yet or is he just following you around?”

“Just following me around I guess,” Iwaizumi said with an awkward rub at his neck, “It’ll be weird.”

“I’ll let the guys know to back off just a bit but Mattsun and I—,”

“—Yeah I know,” Iwaizumi chuckled, “You’ll be relentless.”  

Makki pretended to wipe a tear away as he sniffed proudly, “You know us so well.”

“Shut up,” Iwaizumi laughed, some of the heaviness from his chest shifting but the rest settling in for the long guilt ride.

They left the locker room looking more comfortable than before they had entered and Matsukawa was instantly approaching them; Oikawa perked up and curiously followed along behind him.  The dismissing wave of Makki’s hand fluttered in the corner of his vision and he shook his head affectionately; sometimes his friends ESP towards him was downright creepy.  Only Makki would know that he didn’t want to repeat the same story to his other friend...except it was _Makki_ — his personal tormentor so the thought of his best friend letting him get away with this, without suffering _something,_ made him suspicious.  He suspected his own skeptical eyebrow raise was in tandem with Matsukawa’s.  

“You wanted to get your usual coffee right?” Makki asked, “Go on and I’ll fill Mattsun in.”

“Thanks, Makki,” Iwaizumi said with a warm grin, “I’ll see you later, Mattsun.”  He clapped the other on the shoulder as he passed, grabbing Oikawa by the bicep before he could open his mouth and ruin everything.  

“Iwa-chan is so rough!” Oikawa whined as Iwaizumi dragged him back across the court.  

“Just get your things, I want to get coffee before class,” Iwaizumi sighed.  At this rate he’d barely make it to class and end up as the ‘showed up late to class with Starbucks’ meme that he _hates_.

“Who is that?” Iwaizumi swore that the entire team just stopped what they were doing just so they could give incredulous looks to Oikawa.

“Not who, what,” Iwaizumi sighed, “It’s a drink and you can’t have any.  You’re already hyper enough and I for one am glad that your hometown doesn’t have coffee.”  

The team seemed to accept this mutually as if in silent communication with each other as they all whispered low oh’s of understanding in unison, as they carried on with their packing.  Iwaizumi pulled Oikawa and all of their stuff from the gym, leading the way to the notorious Starbucks.  

“Iwa-chan order me a “Starbucks” too!” Oikawa pleaded eyes big and wandering all over the small shop as Iwaizumi put in his order for an Americano.

“No.”

“Please! Iwa-chan that’s not fair! I want to try “coffee”!”

“Um, will there be anything else for you?”

“No.”

“ _Iwa-chan!_ ”

In the end he bought Oikawa a refresher just so he’d shut up.  

By the end of the day he was regretting purchasing even the small amount of caffeine for Oikawa.  He wouldn’t _shut up_ during his lectures, couldn’t stay seated, and ran his mouth a mile a minute any other time noise was socially acceptable.  Iwaizumi was ready to chop his own ears off, or at the very least, blow his ear drums out so he wouldn’t be subjected to this kind of torture anymore.

His limit was apparently three lectures and one discussion class—which Oikawa only barely got away with sitting in because his TA is a rule abiding no-nonsense type of person who was just as annoyed by Oikawa’s ceaseless whispering as Iwaizumi. If it hadn’t been for him pointedly telling Oikawa to shut up before he ‘shoved his foot down his throat’ then she probably would have kicked them both out.

“ _Kuso_ kawa, just stop talking for a _minute_ ,” Iwaizumi snapped and Oikawa fell silent but fidgety, “I need to catch you up on our cover story.”

“Story?” Oikawa asked.  His head tilted to one side and his brows furled together before they snapped apart and a look of comprehension appeared on his face, “Iwa-chan means our love story right~ How we met and—”

“Yeah,” Iwaizumi interrupted, “You need to stick with it since I’m sure the entire team has been told already.”

“Okay but Iwa-chan has to do me a favor too.”

“I bought you coffee.”

“No you didn’t,” Oikawa pouted, “The nice lady at the counter said it wasn’t coffee.  Besides that doesn’t count for this.  You have to do something else for me.”

“Like _what_?” Iwaizumi nearly groaned.

“You have to take me somewhere tonight.  Right after we see Mike.”

“Mike isn’t a—fucking, nevermind,” Iwaizumi huffed, “Fine. Where do you want to go?”

“I need to find a statue.”

“A…statue.”

“It’s important, Iwa-chan.”

“…Right, okay I’ll find you the statue tonight,” He promised flippantly, “now, will you listen?”

“You’re the best, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa said with a wink that basically screamed you’re-going-to-regret-this-later.  

“You’re so full of shit,” Iwaizumi snapped, “anyway you and I are penpals and--,”

“Penpals? What kind of pens do we like?”

“I need a drink,” Iwaizumi muttered, “A penpal are two people who have never met but send letters and shit to communicate about their lives, customs, or whatever they want to talk about.  I became your penpal for uh…what did you call it…that residing heart thing.”

“Re _SIDUAL_ Heart,” Oikawa corrected obnoxiously.

“Right, anyway if they ask, that’s why we became penpals but just tell them you don’t feel comfortable giving away the specifics of those details.”

“You’re just saying that because you don’t want me to know~” Oikawa said smugly.

“Yes, now would you shut up and listen,” Iwaizumi said sharply before he took a second to calm his raging nerves, “Penpals.  You came out to your parents as gay like you told my mom you did.  They kicked you out. You moved here since your island was so small and bigoted that you couldn’t live on it anymore.  Got it?”

“Okay Iwa-chan,” Oikawa smirked, “I got it.”

“…why do I have a bad feeling about this…” Iwaizumi groaned helplessly as he walked past Oikawa towards the front hall where they were going to meet the rest of the team, before heading off to Mike’s.  

“Iwa-chan isn’t capable of having good feelings~”

Iwaizumi punched him and kept walking even as Oikawa moaned and complained about how much his arm hurt and how Iwaizumi was such a mean brute. He was honestly just astounded with Oikawa’s persistence on noise, how not even a sucker punch from Iwaizumi could get him to shut up for more than two seconds.  At this point he would be more than welcoming for all the drinks he knew would be pushed his way at Mike’s.

Mike’s was the same as he remembered it; loud, smelling overwhelmingly of sweat, and with one too many bodies brushing up against him as they passed—some more intentional than others.  The thrumming bass from the music reverberated in his chest and he could barely hear the team around him as they pushed him forward towards the bar.  He was digging in his pocket for an ID as Bokuto ordered, but it seemed like he knew the blonde haired bartender as he instantly started lining up shot glasses for each of them without asking for their ID’s.  Iwaizumi showed his anyway earning him a small laugh and a raised eyebrow.  The man waved off his ID while grabbing the bottle of Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey that Bokuto had requested; each glass was filled precisely before the group claimed a cup.

“To our beloved captain, may his future birthdays be less shitty than the mess that was this one,” Bokuto said loudly his voice taking on a pained drawl.

“Jerk,” Iwaizumi huffed around a laugh, “don’t make it sound like I’m _dead_.”

“He will be missed,” Hanamaki joined in with a hand over his heart and his shot raised.

“Assholes.” Iwaizumi grinned.

“Bottoms up,” Matsukawa drawled as he toasted his own shot.

They took the shot as a group, the alcohol flowing smooth down Iwaizumi’s throat and leaving a pleasant burn on his pallet, which was soothed only by the honey aftertaste. There was a resounding bellow of _sincere_ birthday wishes from the team before he noticed Oikawa, watery-eyed and coughing from the burn of the alcohol.  Iwaizumi couldn’t help but laugh as he grabbed the glass of water being offered by the bartender who was looking more like he wanted to see ID’s but ultimately remained silent.

“Don’t tell me that was your first shot!” Iwaizumi yelled in an effort to be heard over the current song as he handed over the glass of water for Oikawa to drain.

Oikawa threw him a scathing glare as he wiped water from his lips, “We don’t have this back home.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Hanamaki said while throwing an arm around Oikawa’s shoulders.

“You’ll be a pro by the end of the night,” Matsukawa said with a sly grin.

They led Oikawa away and separated into groups; Bokuto dragging Akaashi away to the jukebox, Kunimi and Kindaichi taking up seats at the bar with Watari, while Hanamaki and Matsukawa sat with Iwaizumi and Oikawa at the opposite side of the bar.  They ordered a round of Fireball which would be chased down with Jaeger Bombs and a second glass of water for Oikawa.

“The aim is to get me shitfaced, isn’t it,” Iwaizumi stated suspiciously.

“Of course not!” Hanamaki said with a hand over his sternum looking offended, “We would _never_.”

“It was, but now it’s to get _him_ shitfaced,” Matsukawa confirmed while propping his head up on his hand and gesturing to Oikawa with the other.

“Way to spill all our secrets, Mattsun,” Hanamaki pouted taking the fireball as it was offered to him and passing them around.

“I’m sure he’s just fine at keeping the juicy secrets,” Oikawa winked slyly while accepting the shot.

He watched Oikawa take the shot from the corner of his eye, already he appeared to be taking the burn of the alcohol better because his nose only scrunched instead of the coughing he was doing before. Iwaizumi took the shot himself, making a conscious effort to appear completely unbothered by the burn of cinnamon against his throat.  Oikawa raised an eyebrow at him, as if he knew exactly what Iwaizumi was doing before he raised his second shot up in a mock salute and downed that in one go, his nose only twitching against the heat of the Jaeger bomb.

“Look at that,” Mattsun smirked, “he didn’t even need the whole night.”

“They all pretty much burn the same,” Oikawa said pleasantly, “what’s the point of this anyway?”

“Oh, you’ll figure it out pretty quick,” Makki said while he patted Oikawa on the back.

Iwaizumi was forced to wonder what a mermaids alcohol tolerance was like, did he even digest it the same? Would he be as affected by liquor like a regular human?  How much of Oikawa’s current appearance was just for show and how much of it was real? He wasn’t sure but what he did know was that he would have some sort of inkling by the end of the night. Already Iwaizumi could feel the teetering of his mental stability dissolving away with each passing moment as the alcohol settled in.  He should have eaten more before coming to drink.

“So,” Mattsun started with a smirk and a lazy drawl to his voice, “tell us about meeting in person for the first time.”

“What are you Mattsun?” Iwaizumi asked, his cheeks heating up, “A hopeless romantic or something?”

“If I say yes will I actually get an answer out of you?”

“Oh that’s not necessary at all,” Oikawa said with a sly grin sliding into place, “I can tell you _all_ about it.”

“Like hell you will,” Iwaizumi warned.

“Iwa-chan isn’t very observant at all, you know,” Oikawa sighed tragically, “he didn’t even notice me on the docks.”

“Are you serious?” Hanamaki snorted.

“He ended up elbowing me in the face!”

As soon as the roaring laughter started from his teammates and the discreet snickers from people near them registered to him, he knew he was absolutely fucked and motioned for a glass Jack Daniels. He let Oikawa blabber on about how he always looked forward to Iwa-chan’s letters despite their curtness and short length.  Iwaizumi really had to give it to him, he was selling the whole thing far better than Iwaizumi ever could.  He let Oikawa entertain his friends with an interjection from him every now and then when Oikawa got a bit too carried away and thought that maybe things could be nice.  If Oikawa was _actually_ human and not some monster killing machine from the sea, this could have _been_ something.  They could have been friends or maybe even something more.

“What the fuck, no.”

“No, what?” Makki asked confused and Oikawa looking as if he had been in the middle of a story.

It was then that Iwaizumi realized he had spoken aloud and was now stuck.  He felt his face burn with more than alcohol and just shook his head, “It’s nothing.”

“Aw c’mon Iwa-chan,” Oikawa whined, “loosen up.”

“Share with the class,” Mattsun encouraged.

“OooH was it something _dirty_?” Makki teased.

“It was _not_ ,” Iwaizumi denied as he put in another order for more liquor.

Oikawa gasped and covered his mouth with his hands, “It _was_! Iwa-chan you’re so filthy!”

Hanamaki and Matsukawa burst into loud laughter, “At least wait until you get home,” they cried in unison.

“Shut up,” Iwaizumi snapped, “I was just thinking that this was _nice_ okay, Jesus.”   

He got the privilege to watch the shock blow up on the faces of his teammates before their eyes watered over with tears and guilt settled into his gut.  It was moments like this that led him to realize he really had been growing distant from them.  Forcing them to try harder to come to him, hurting because of him.  It was in moments like this that he vowed to do better by them, even if every time he tried, he ultimately failed.

“Iwa-chan is capable of kind thoughts?” Oikawa asked surprised, breaking the heavy emotion in the moment.

“Don’t be an ass, Oikawa,” Iwaizumi huffed, “I’m full of them.”

“This is the first I’ve ever heard of this,” Matsukawa teased.

“Dick,” Iwaizumi huffed around a laugh.

He sipped on his second glass of Jack Daniels as they teased him more and felt lighter than he had in a long time, though that could probably be attributed to his alcohol intake. By the end of the night he was laughing hard enough to bring tears to his eyes and stumbling to the bathroom so badly that Makki had to help support him there, except the other was just as drunk and not helpful.  It was a miracle that he made it to the bathroom in one piece and an act of god that he didn’t miss the urinal. When they returned to the bar he noticed that Oikawa was still miraculously poised and not drunk at all despite the fact that he had drank just as much as everyone else.

“What the _fuCK_?” Iwaizumi slurred as he stumbled a bit too far and crashed into Oikawa, “How the hell are you so…so,” he gestured to Oikawa in a general reference.

“Attractive?” Oikawa finished arrogantly, “Well Iwa-chan, it’s because unlike you I’m _blessed_.”  Iwaizumi ignored Makki and Mattsun’s hisses of ‘burn’ in the background as he stabbed a finger into Oikawa’s chest.

“You’re not fucking blessed you’re just fucking-fucking magic? Or something? How are you not drunk?”  He felt Oikawa stiffen for a moment and was reminded how much Oikawa didn’t like it when he referred to his ability as anything other than _soul_ , “Not that kind of thing though. Just that you-you’re fucking- _not drunk_ and your soul can’t—can it?”

“O-Kay boss man you aren’t making any sense anymore,” Makki laughed loudly, “Can you get him home?”  The question was directed towards Oikawa.

“Of course I can Makki-chan,” Oikawa said cheerfully.  He pointedly ignored the bewildered look that Makki gave him at the suffix attached to his name, “but Iwa-chan said he’d take me somewhere first.”

“Oh _shit_ —fUCk, yeah, I did,” Iwaizumi groaned, his head feeling too heavy for his shoulders and without much thought he let it flop onto Oikawa’s chest, “hey fuck you for being taller than me.” That earned a snort from Mattsun.

“Iwa-chan is acting so strange,” Oikawa commented a hint of confused worry in his voice that was well veiled by amusement.

“Shuddap,” Iwaizumi huffed.

“Well you two go have your romantic _date_ and text me when you get home,” Makki said as he sat down in Mattsun’s lap and motioned for another drink.

“Make sure he texts us and drinks some fucking water before he sleeps,” Mattsun said to Oikawa.

“Roger that!” Oikawa confirmed with a charming smile.  

He was dragged out of the bar, goodbyes scarce as the rest of the team had already filtered out and left; he vaguely remembered saying goodbye with shots of _something_.  He was pretty sure he stopped walking at some point and Oikawa was literally just dragging him around but he was able to get his feet back underneath him with some pretty intense concentration.  It was only after they got a block away from the bar that he realized they were stopped and any movement he felt was a reflection of his drunken momentum spinning the world around him.

“Iwa-chan, you’re supposed to take me to the statue. I don’t know where it is…” Oikawa prompted, a tilted frown on his face.  Iwaizumi wanted to wipe it away but his hand fell halfway there, closing the distance seemed like too much effort.

“HA, you don’t know the way.” Iwaizumi laughed, “I forgot.” Then the gigging wouldn’t stop and turned into full body shaking guffaw until he was crying and having a hard time bringing in his next breath.

“Iwa-chan, what’s wrong with you?” Oikawa sounded concerned as he tried to get Iwaizumi sitting.

Iwaizumi laughed and brought his hands up to Oikawa’s face, squishing his cheeks between his palms until Oikawa’s lips were forced out into a comical fish face, “I’m so _fucked up_ right now,” he laughed.

“I dob’t hundersthand.”

“I’m _drunk_ ,” Iwaizumi said slowly as if he were talking to a small child, “Really, _really_ , drunk.”

Oikawa pushed his hands away and pulled Iwaizumi back up into a standing position before slinging one of his arm around Oikawa’s shoulders, “Drunk Iwa-chan is so weird.”

“You’re weird,” Iwaizumi grumbled, “You drank so much but you aren’t even _affected_.”

“I feel a little different,” Oikawa protested.

“Okay sure, but you don’t fucking--fucking act like it?” Iwaizumi huffed then added, “Turn right.”

They ended up going in opposite directions as Iwaizumi turned left and he squinted at the paths before them before he laughed again, “other right.”

“That’s _left_ , Iwa-chan.”

“Yeah, the _other_ right,” Iwaizumi explained, as if Oikawa were a small child that needed to be led around slowly.

Oikawa huffed but ultimately stayed quiet and continued to support Iwaizumi while he gave directions.  They arrived in front of a stumpy statue only a few yards away from the main entrance from the school.  It was half covered in moss and needed some light upkeep but was left so the moss could cultivate as someone had decided it added character and the grounds crew was forbidden from removing it.

“Okay…Iwa-chan where to next?” Oikawa asked as he readjusted his hold on Iwaizumi who only pointed slightly above the statue.

“It’s right _fucking_ there,” Iwaizumi groaned head hanging low so that his chin touched his chest.  Fatigue was starting to set in.

“That’s the _wrong_ statue, Iwa-chan.”

“Well how the hell am _I_ supposed to know?” he snapped, “you never _told_ me _which_ statue.”

“It’s bigger and older,” Oikawa huffed angrily, “It’s probably isolated from society and a lot of people wouldn’t go there since the vegetation would be thicker.”

“Okay, baa _aa_ kaaagawa,” Iwaizumi sighed, “you’re on an _island._ That doesn’t fucking narrow it down at all.”

“There’s probably rumors about it,” Oikawa offered, “it would make you feel like there was another something or someone there even if you knew you were alone.”

“Ah _fuck_ ,” Iwaizumi spat, “you want me to take you to Psychosis Hell?”

“Really, that’s what it’s called?”

“ _No_ ,” Iwaizumi said loudly, “it’s called Omor’fia but everyone who goes there comes back paranoid that they’ve been followed or spied on so it got a nickname.”

“That sounds about right,” Oikawa shrugged, “take me there.”

“Shit man, I’ve been trying to _not_ die by my own hand for like _four_ years,” Iwaizumi groaned, “I’d rather not waste that by walking into something that’s going to mentally _fuck_ me even more.”

Oikawa was silent for a moment and Iwaizumi almost mustered up the energy to look at him but in the end he waited until Oikawa finally answered him with, “Iwa-chan you _promised_.  Besides I’ll be with you so I can guarantee that you’ll be fine.”

“Liar,” Iwaizumi said lowly.

“I haven’t lied to you,” Oikawa said firmly, “Not once.”

“Okay but you avoid questions so that’s a skewed result.”

“ _Fine,_ ” Oikawa huffed, “I’ll answer as many questions as you want as long as the answer is safe for you to know.”

“See this is the-the kinda bull-shit that I’m talking about,” Iwaizumi whined as he lifted his head to glare at Oikawa, “You say this kinda shit but you _know_ that I’m not gonna remember _shit_ tomorrow.”

Oikawa’s brow furled together and he looked concerned, “Why wouldn’t you remember anything tomorrow?”

“Because. I’m. _shitfaced_.” Iwaizumi reiterated for his dull mermaid captor.

“What is shitfaced anyway?”

Iwaizumi gestured to himself and Oikawa sighed, “Alright Iwa-chan. If you forget in the morning I’ll re-inform you.  Okay? This is _really_ important and not for me.  For you and your precious island.”

Iwaizumi had to admit, that had him curious so he agreed and directed Oikawa to the train station nearest to them. Their car was mostly empty but Iwaizumi had enough mental presence to know that trying to ask about mermaid shit in front of islanders that were leaving the city and entering into the much more sensitive areas of the country was a dumb idea. So he waited three stops for passengers to exit, briefly noting their concerned glance towards him as he had let his head flop over onto Oikawa’s shoulder because he was pretty sure it was made of lead by now and there was no possible way his neck could support such a tremendous weight.

“What was the…the residual heart thing?” Iwaizumi asked quietly, “why does it fuck me up so badly?”

“It’s the remainder of another beings heart in your body.  All living creatures carry heart and some—like humans—don’t know how to use it so it lies dormant.  A controlled heart—or heart from someone that knows what they’re doing—is going to be considered a dominate heart and is going to have more influence.  Does that make sense?”

“So like because I can’t use it,” Iwaizumi started, trying to drunkenly put the pieces together, “it’s not very strong, so something that _can_ use it is stronger?”

“It’s not necessarily about strength but you have the right idea.  Imagine it like genes.  Brown eyes are a dominate trait and blue eyes are a recessive trait.  So imagine your heart is  blue eyes and the heart forced into you by that siren is brown eyes.  It has the control and presents itself over your heart.”   

“How do I get rid of it?”

“You either make your own heart the dominate trait—but that’s impossible for a human—or you get overridden by a different dominate heart.”

“So basically I’m fucked,” Iwaizumi groaned miserably.

“I thought that old medicine lady had pills that were helping,” Oikawa offered.

“Mamaw?  She makes the medicine but it doesn’t, it doesn’t just magically _fix_ things you know?  Sometimes it helps take the edge off but ultimately I still get fixated and have the urge to just go under and never come back up,” Iwaizumi sighed, vaguely aware that he was going to regret revealing this to Oikawa in the morning when his judgment wasn’t impaired, “sometimes the medicine makes you _not_ want to die but increases the fixation on the ocean.”

“So that’s why Iwa-chan always stares at the ocean in the morning?”

“I guess,” Iwaizumi shrugged.

They rode in silence a little longer, both just thinking over the information provided.  Iwaizumi’s heart sank after realizing that he was probably never going to be able to live a normal life with normal friends at a normal job.  He was going to be cursed with this horrible disease and be an outcast with the rest of the siren survivors who were too damaged to work.  Who hallucinated and had to be under constant supervision so they didn’t drown in a bathtub.  The more depressing his thoughts got the more aware he became of needing to change the subject.

“How come this statue thing is important for my island?” Iwaizumi asked in a slur that sounded a little bit like he was about to fall asleep..

“It’s a vessel that helps to protect the island from misfortune,” Oikawa answered without hesitation, “I’m sure you’ve noticed a decrease in tourism and general well being for this island.”

“I think my mom said something like that awhile back,” Iwaizumi said quietly, his body starting to feel heavier as the alcohol metabolized.

“Right well after I visit, those tourists will come back to bring in more good fortune for the island.”

“How? I mean it’s just a statue and why are _you_ so important? I mean I live here, why can’t _I_ just visit it and make shit better?”

“Because you can’t manipulate Heart, Iwa-chan.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Iwaizumi sighed as he brought a hand up to scratch his chest, Oikawa took it the wrong way.

“No, remember before I said that it wasn’t your organ, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa said as he pulled Iwaizumi’s hand away from his chest—which was fine he got the itch anyway, “Heart is my soul and I can sing it into objects.  This island is my territory—“ Iwaizumi snorted and rolled his eyes, “It _is_!  I’ve been watching over it since before you were born!   _Anyway_ mermaids can sing their heart into the land that they have watch over and traditionally we sung into the statues that were dedicated to us when we reined over humans.”

“Arrogant asshole,” Iwaizumi frowned, “you don’t reign over shit.”

“Hence the past tense, Iwa-chan.” Oikawa sighed, “So, long story short if I sing my heart into this statue I can bring the good fortune back to this island.”

Iwaizumi chewed that around in his drunken stew brain and with tremendous effort he lifted his head up to look at Oikawa, “bad fortune.”

“No? Good, Iwa-chan…is this another right is left thing?”

“You’re going to put bad fortune on this island?”  Something akin to hurt began to settle in Iwaizumi’s chest.  He had almost begun to like Oikawa but this....  This he couldn’t forgive.  The bad that half fish brought to him, to his family, to his island, to think that it was all something that was intentional made his chest ache.

“No,” Oikawa said looking confused, “Like I said this island is in my ward of protection.  It’s my duty to keep it safe.”

“That’s a goddamn lie,” Iwaizumi snapped, “mermaids, sirens, what the fuck _ever_ creature you are you come from a place of nothing but death and sorrow.  Why the hell would you bring _prosperity_ to _my_ home?”

Oikawa’s face darkened and his eyes narrowed, “What would you know about my home, human,” Oikawa sneered.

“A fuckton more than you apparently,” Iwaizumi sneered back, “I’ve been there.  I’ve _lived_ on the sea—“

“ _Not_ in it.  You’re an outsider who knows _nothing_.  You are ignorant to my culture and blind to anything outside of your own personal tragedy.  It’s not my fault you were targeted for being an idiot and it’s not my fault that you refuse to actually open your mind to anything other than what a _disgrace_ sirens are because I am not them Iwaizoomie Hajime.”

“...You sound thirty times less threatening when you don’t get my name right.”

Oikawa’s face plummeted into a cold look where his eyes became devoid of any warmth they might have had.  They lost their look of humanity and became the jeweled glimmer that haunted Iwaizumi’s nightmares.  The teasing warm aura around him dissolved and Iwaizumi felt real fear burn his stomach; he felt like barfing it and was only _slightly_ alcohol related. Cold hands, colder than they had been while supporting him and harder than he remembered them being gripped his chin to force him to stay staring where he was.  His skin broke out into gooseflesh and he felt his hands tremble.

“How about now,” Oikawa said lowly, dangerously, “am I less threatening to you now?”

He was caught in a limbo land between past and present, siren and mermaid, fear, and drunken confusion.  It was almost as if his mind were trying to send him back, as if the call of the siren was trying to bubble up to the foreground of his mind but something was keeping it back.  Another part forcing him to be fully aware in the terror that was Oikawa Tooru.

“I don’t want to die,” he heard the words tumble from his numb lips in a quiet whisper more than he comprehended _saying_ them.

Oikawa recoiled as if the words had physically burned him and his dark aura disappeared leaving Iwaizumi confused and scared.  His eyes flattened out into a convincing replica of a human's appearance.  The ice melted and the façade of a warm, kind, human smoothed out the rough edges to Oikawa’s face but could do nothing for the sickened crinkled in his brow.

“I’m sorry,” Oikawa said quietly, “I went too far.”

Iwaizumi was going to barf, he knew it as soon as the train stopped and announced the last stop and for all riders to please exit.  He half drunkenly stumbled and half bolted for the doors of the train, his knees hitting concrete as soon as he was out and his hand gripping the railing to the raised platform as he hurled over the side and into the plant life below him.  The touch on his back only made him shudder and jerk away as he knew exactly whose hand it was on him.  The contact didn’t come back after that and he took time to try and pull himself together.  He was only able to wipe his mouth and turn to lean against the railing with his knees pulled to his chest; forehead pressed against his kneecaps and arms wrapped too tightly around his legs.

“Iwa-chan,” Oikawa called guiltily, “I think you should come with me.”

“ _No_ ,” Iwaizumi strained, his drunken mind spinning out of control with fear and confusion.

“Please, you’ll feel better.”

“The damn statue is to the left and down the path.  Follow it to the fork and then ignore the paths and go straight you’ll hit it in like a minute.”

“Iwa-chan—“

“—Just go!”

“...I want to fix my mistake.”

Oikawa sat down next to him and Iwaizumi wanted to punch him.  It was a low blow that he should have seen coming; he should have known that Oikawa would exploit the information he had so naively given.  Should have known that no matter how charming and kind Oikawa was pretending to be, no matter how well he got along with his teammates, Oikawa was only going to betray him like this and force him to relive the thing he despised just because he could.

“I’ll wait,” was all Oikawa said before he fell silent.

Iwaizumi tried to ignore him, to wait longer than Oikawa would but the sea breeze was getting to him.  It was solidifying the fragments of the old song of the siren and making him feel more affected than before.  Burying his nose in his knees didn’t help and he only felt more dizzy without anything to ground him.  He was too drunk, too vulnerable, and too naive.

He burrowed down in his jeans until he was just tired. Until the thoughts seemed to hover in place instead of racing around his head.  Oikawa seemed to ESP the exact moment that he felt his resolve break because a hand cautiously closed around his bicep; allowing his panicked jerk in response before gently tugging.

With a quiet sigh Iwaizumi allowed himself to be pulled up to his feet.  He didn’t protest Oikawa’s tentative hands but he couldn’t help the reflexive jolt or coiled tension in his limbs.  He numbly followed behind Oikawa as he took the path that Iwaizumi had described prior, his hand caught firmly in Oikawa’s.  In a way he felt like he was being led to his death despite knowing that the ocean was in the opposite direction.  They reached the statue and Iwaizumi felt the presence around him.  It felt oddly like Oikawa but made him more paranoid like there was someone over his shoulder and it made his heart race.

“It’s okay,” Oikawa’s voice was just above a whisper as he eased Iwaizumi down by his shoulders, “just wait here.”

Iwaizumi pulled his legs in close to his chest, a defensive measure that made him feel more safe despite being completely unable to hide from the feeling of someone spying on him.  Adrenaline rushed through his veins as the thought that it was the siren crossed his mind, unable to ignore the paranoia he checked over his shoulder, once, twice, and a third time.  

“Focus on me, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa said firmly from where he stood in front of the statue.

In a desperate attempt to keep his mind off of the pressing anxiety of phantom existences he did as he was told, eyes jumping to Oikawa’s form.  A broken noise cracked from his throat as Oikawa sliced his hand open on a rough part of the rock and he placed his bleeding hand into the palm of the gorgeous statue.  He pressed his forehead against the chest of the statue; where the pinnacle of his height reached.

Then, Oikawa began to sing.

It was a different feeling than the last time Iwaizumi had heard it.  He could only describe it as being a sub-target rather than the direct target.  The pure notes set his anxiety down and stopped the panic in his head.  He watched as Oikawa’s forehead took on a pale teal glow as he sang into the ancient stone.  The greenery around them seemed to come to life, writhing and wiggling across the ground to slide into place around the area.  Listening to Oikawa was conflicting for him as he knew what such a voice was capable of.  He knew that within just a moment’s notice he could be seconds from death but on the other hand not even mamaw’s pills had made him feel so at ease and like his past self.

The anxiety and fear from the train seemed to drain away and a different kind of tear was brought to his eyes as he felt resistance leave his muscles and he slouched into a reclined position on the ground still blankly watching Oikawa lean into the statue.  The earth beneath him seemed unnaturally warm for the time of night that it was, especially for being somewhat near the ocean.  His cheek felt warm against the earth and he realized he could probably sleep there feeling more safe than even in the arms of his mother.  Stark confliction settled in the manifestation of feeling security, warmth, and _normalcy_ but was overshadowed by the knowledge that he was none of those things.  Yet as Oikawa ended the song and came back over to him, a hand placed on his cheek, he still couldn’t resist the urge to let his eyes slide shut.

“Do you feel better, Iwa-chan?”

“Shuddap,” Iwaizumi mumbled into the ground.  He felt a lot better, “S’ weird.”

Oikawa hummed in acknowledgement before he moved his hand from Iwaizumi’s face.  He could practically imagine the smug ‘I-told-you-so’ look on the mermaids humanoid face.  He didn’t open his eyes to check though, not even when Oikawa pulled his noodle limbed body back up into a sitting position and pulled Iwaizumi’s arms around his neck.  He did crack them open when his chest was warmed by an unknown heat and he recognized the back of Oikawa’s head.  He could be embarrassed about a piggyback ride tomorrow.  For now he just wanted to remember what the feeling of peace was like.

“Don’t forget to text Makki-chan,” Oikawa said gently.

“Mmm.”

He fell asleep before he could send the text.    

 

 

Fan art:

<http://koibitotedare.tumblr.com/post/144356690041/oikawa-from-the-mermaid-au-take-me-down-which-you>

<http://fuzzykitty01.tumblr.com/post/144355431861/i-drew-meroikawa-for-koi-inks-mermaid-au-u-i>

My writing tumblr

<http://koi-ink.tumblr.com/>

My amazing Beta

<http://inspiringanna.tumblr.com/>

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A HUGE thank you to Fuzzykitty01.tumblr.com for drawing fanart of this!!!! I'm so honored to see fanart being drawn and I absolutely love seeing it!!   
> If you do suddenly become struck by the urge to draw/write/create something for this AU let me know and I'll link it in the fic!!
> 
> please comment/kudo and let me know what you think!! I always love hearing from you guys and I'm not even at all ashamed to say that I would love to geek out over my own fic with y'all.  
> As always feel free to follow/message me on my writing blog


	5. How We Grow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frayed emotions, normalized routines, and a double date? In which Iwaizumi takes some steps forward and makes a very important decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, Okay so this is LATE and I'm SO SORRY you guys waited for so long.  
> It was surprisingly hard for me to write out the beginning of this chapter and I suffered some writers block for a while. My life and My betas life got increasingly busy and it was hard for both of us to find the time to work on this chapter. We finally were able to make a time for both of us to get online and destroy this monster of a chapter! I hope you can forgive us for this 6 month lag because obviously updates are unpredictable at this point haha.
> 
> Also we have passed the one year mark of this fic!!! I didn't even realize it until just recently, it doesn't even feel like it's been that long. I hope the next one year shows more growth and excitement!! (I should buy a cake XD) 
> 
> If you guys want to get updates on how I'm doing and sometimes chapter spoilers please follow my writing koi-ink.tumblr.com/ I'll even answer any and all questions you guys have about the fic there and if you're curious about background happenings I don't mind indulging in those on my tumblr since a lot of them would distract from the main plotline here!  
> As always a warm thank you to my beta for her amazing work. Please give her a follow on tumblr at inspiringanna.tumblr.com/

Awareness crept upon him like a well performed jump float serve;  wobbling its way to him until it dropped his sorry ass right inside the realm of the sober and suffering.  The shock of it made his heart pound and he realized the dumb autotuned duck was waking him up again.  He _really_ needed to change that tone.  It was getting to be too ridiculous.

He slapped a hand over and pulled his phone off the nightstand where it had been charging.  Disabling the alarm cleared away the torturous white screen of misery and he was left with agony inducing notifications from Makki that stung his watery eyes.  He had, of course, neglected to text the other when he had gotten home.  Not that he remembered getting home anyway. Iwaizumi turned down the brightness on his phone and then opened the message center with the intent to apologize to Makki but was instead met with a conversation he didn’t remember having.  

 _[ Got home safe!!_ _(‘∇^d)  ]_

_[ and here I was thinking u 4got...Oikawa?  ]_

_[ Yes!_ _(❁´◡`❁)_ _Iwa-chan is very sleepy!  ]_

_[ well thx 4 getting him home  ]_

_[ it was fun! I want to go out with Iwa-chan’s friends more often!_ _（｡ >‿‿<｡ ）] _

How Oikawa had managed to figure out the kaomojis on his phone when Iwaizumi himself had never figured it out was a mystery but moreso, Iwaizumi’s phone was _passcode protected_ .  How the hell did Oikawa even get into it? He rubbed an overly warm hand over his face.  He almost didn’t care.   _Almost_. He was more concerned with the fact that Hanamaki’s last reply that hadn’t been seen by Oikawa was one of agreement.

_[ I’ll make plans 4 us to do smthn  ]_

He let the phone drop and rolled into his pillow groaning.  The morning was just starting to mature and it was oddly _warm_ for the time that Iwaizumi typically awoke.  On top of a hijacked phone and plans he didn’t agree to, the unusually warm morning could only mean one thing; the stormy season was starting to roll in.  

Humidity made his skin feel sticky and his head groggy with fog that refused to clear for anything but the burning sun.  The urge to lie in bed and sleep a little longer was terrifyingly strong but alas, he was a student and school was definitely in session. If he didn’t get up now the chances of him staying in for the whole day skyrocketed.  Kicking off the sheets made him feel a little better; less suffocated and cooler and yet, he was still completely unmotivated in accomplishing anything regarding productivity.   Ignoring his complete and utter lack of enthusiasm brought on the realization that something was...off.

Firstly, Makki and Mattsun had pumped more alcohol into him last night than he had ever allowed himself to indulge in on a school night.  Enough to, one: give him a headache, and two: give him post ‘ _I spent the night barfing and falling over my own two feet’_ body aches. The dull throb pulsing in his shoulders wasn’t _nearly_ enough to compensate for all of that liquor.  As disturbing as his non-existent hangover was, it paled in comparison to the absolute stillness in his room--no, in his house.  It was...quiet.  Hesitantly, he stretched out in his bed oddly passing through the space where he should have been met with the resistance of another body.

His heart fluttered for a mere second as that could only mean that Oikawa was no longer in his home.  He was far too noisy to leave the house in its perpetual state of stillness and far too clingy to leave Iwaizumi alone.  Could it possibly be that he was no longer around, his home or dare he even think...the island? The thought irritated him. If that were truly the case and Oikawa had just fucked on home without even a simple goodbye then the asshole mermaid had only come to terrorize him and his friends? Visit a creepy statue in the middle of nowhere? Just to leave quietly?

It didn’t sit right with him nor the bubble of aggravation popping in his gut, properly flooding his veins with shaky rage.  His teeth ground together and his hands gripped the fabric of his pants; a subconscious reaction that he always found hard to control.  Oikawa was a pretentious prick who excelled at showy entrances and exits as if he couldn’t stand to let the world forget about him for just one second.  The situation at hand didn’t categorize into the neat folders and subfolders that Iwaizumi had begun to mentally file in regards to the mermaid.

Oikawa was gone? Just like that?  No flashy _I’m off to be better than you Iwa-chan_ ! With a gross god awful peace sign that was often paired with the peak of his tongue resting _stupidly_ on his upper lip.  No flirtatious wink or swing of the hip to make Makki say something equally irritating and teasingly lewd? Just neatly, quietly, and without a word _gone_?

He couldn’t accept it...but...he had to.  It had happened.  There was no way it _hadn’t_ happened! It was irritating and nothing about it made sense but...he had to accept it because that meant he could finally get his peace back.  Could finally be just him and his mother at home.  He could just worry about _him_ and rebuilding his relationship with his friends.  He could stop wondering why his _heart_ hurt so much.

The thought of his old peace and solitude was just, a huge let down.

Realizing the implications of that thought caused tension to zip through his muscles and where his hands had previously went lax against his sweats, they were now fully clenched pinching his skin accidentally in between bunches of fabric.  His eyes strained in a listless stare at his wall while disbelief smothered any feeling of anger or aggression because _no_ . Just _no_ . He wasn’t about to let his mentality slip like this.  Oikawa was a mermaid, a creature of the sea designed to kill, maim, and torture.  He wasn’t going to ever think of him as...as what, a _friend_ ? Just the mere thought of it was ridiculous.  It didn’t matter that the team was fond of him, they only approved of him because they didn’t _know_.

He needed to walk it off.  His tensed muscles jerked into motion, choppily pushing him off the bed and across his own room to where the window was.  Life would be better without Oikawa’s annoying presence and stubborn petulance.  His fingers couldn’t quite work smoothly enough to unlock the latch.  It took him four tries to get it vented.  Cool air brushed against his abdomen and he was struck with awareness on his state of dress.  Iwaizumi  had no memory of dressing himself for bed the previous night, only of that terrifying encounter with Oikawa and the stupid statue which he had _not_ gone to in these sweatpants.  Nor had he gone shirtless.

Everything after the heat of Oikawa’s palm on his cheek was a hazzed blur rendered completely unrecognizable by the fog of...drunkenness? He pressed his own warm palm to his face with a sigh.  Clearly he needed coffee to burn away the fog of _mermaid_ from his brain.

He took a calming breath, inhaling the steadily warming salty air flowing through the crack in his window.  It helped enough to relax his tense arms and hands and he could finally stretch his arms above his head, joints popping from built pressure. He yawned, feeling better with the promise of coffee when he was struck with awareness, mid belly scratch.

It was quiet.

 _It was quiet_!

His mind wasn’t buzzing around the thought of the ocean, no obsessions of water or mermaids. Well, aside from the overwhelming thought of one Oikawa Tooru but that was to be expected...wasn’t it? He had been pestered and antagonized for days on end so it was only natural that the source of his stress was on the forefront of his thoughts. However, his mind was as calm and silent as his _house_! His house without the overbearing ring of Oikawa’s overly perky voice.

His house without Oikawa.

The thought echoed through his dumbstruck brain leaving him at a standstill in his own hallway.  He couldn’t move past the pang reverberating through his body with each beat of his heart, the thought of Oikawa leaving without so much as a _see ya never wanna be ya_ . He would have liked to sock him in the face just once and a farewell would have been the _perfect_ opportunity.  He told himself it was for that reason alone that he felt any painful twinges at all.  

With a shake of his head he let out a huff of air and rubbed the back of his neck feeling conflicted over the silence in his own mind. On one hand it was incredibly surreal and amazing but on the other…things like this didn’t _just happen_.  He could take that away as a lesson from all the men abandoned on the edge of town tormented by the plague of their restless minds.  Iwaizumi had expected to become one of the outcasts someday. Doomed to fall victim to the past screaming in his brain until he just, did what it wanted.  Silence didn’t just...come for no reason...right? He took a breath and crossed into the kitchen only to be stopped in his tracks once again.

His mother was sitting at the table poised to face him as if she had expected him to walk into the room at the precise second that he had. Her fingers were laced and her chin rested perfectly poised atop of them. Her lips were sliced upwards in a wicked smirk that radiated smug amusement. Instantly, he was on guard.

“Have a good night?” She asked in a teasing drawl.

“Uh.” That was a loaded question and completely uncalled for, “About as well as you'd expect at Mikes.”

His mother’s smile only smeared across her face as she slid a fresh cup of black coffee towards him, “and _after_ Mikes?”

He accepted the cup and sank into the seat across from her, his back protesting being pressed against the back of the chair; he did have some aches after all. He sat up straight to avoid the pressure with a small frown; could loaded questions get heavier with each follow up question?

“You're referring to something specific…?” He took a cautious sip of the coffee.

“There's no need to be embarrassed Hajime. I may be your mother but even I can't help it of you come home passed out on your boyfriends back looking _obviously_ disheveled.”

“Oh god.” The words slipped put before he could stop them, “I didn't…did I…?”

“Tooru is stronger than he looks isn't he,” his mother sighed sounding oddly proud, “I just want to make sure you two are staying safe.”

Horrified, he watched her slide a box of condoms across the table, a yellow sticky note with a winky face drawn in sharpie pressed perfectly centered onto the lid . He couldn't tell what was more mortifying, the fact that she was encouraging him to have sex with oikawa or that she knew his exact size. This was _far_ beyond a mother’s intuition and he was praying to a god he didn’t believe in, hoping that she just made a lucky guess.

“ _Jesus_ !  Mom, _please_ . Just because I came home on Kusokawa’s _back_ doesn’t mean we’re having sex! I just drank too much and he just dropped me off before taking off...or something!” Iwaizumi protested, his face as hot as his coffee.  

“Don’t be rude to your boyfriend, Hajime,” his mother chastised as she moved to cross her arms on top of the table and pin him with a pointed look, “and what do you mean took off?”

“I mean...he left, so…” Iwaizumi mumbled feeling more than embarrassed as he looked through the rising steam of his drink, watching the way he dug his thumbnail into the smooth surface of the ceramic handle.  When the force became too great his thumb would slip off the curve and he would reset it to repeat the motion.

“...You two are so cute,” his mother sighed happily, “you must be a lot closer to him than you let on to me if you think he left because he didn’t sleep with you last night.”

“We _aren’t_ that close,” Iwaizumi huffed naturally protesting, “besides he’s only been here a few days and it’s not like we share a bed _every_ night.”

“Sure, sure,” his mom said with a dismissing wave of her hand, “you also weren’t snoring so loudly that Tooru had to go into the living room to get some shut eye either.”

“He’s…”

“In the living room, yes.”

“Oh.”

He hated how his heart skipped a beat and his eyes flickered over to direction of the living room.  He shouldn’t be elated or excited or anything _positive_ about Oikawa staying.  He should be upset, angry, anything other than the hopeful rush sweeping through his veins.

Anything but this stark relief.

“Oh and dear,” his mother called her tone back to annoyingly teasing, “I didn’t mean that you being carried home was the give away to your sex life.”

Iwaizumi’s eyebrows instantly furrled.  He didn’t understand and it must have shown on his face because his mother stood and clapped a hand on his shoulder.  She just gave him a wink and pressed a kiss to his temple; hand squeezing his shoulder briefly before she pulled away, it stung.

“Take a look in the mirror, love.”  With that she was leaving the kitchen.

Curiosity got the better of him and he heaved himself out of the kitchen chair and squeezed into the bathroom.  At first he didn’t see what his mother was talking about.  He just looked normal with his overly spiky bed head, red eyes, and skin fresh from sleep. It wasn’t until he turned to ask his mom if she was teasing that he caught the abnormality from the corner of his eye.  

There was a small pink mark on the top and sides of his left shoulder and now that he was paying proper attention they were down his bicep as well.  He turned slowly to follow them around his sides and back.  His jaw dropped in disbelief.  Long angry red scratch marks were scattered up and down his back and arms, some deep and welted other’s just the barest hint of irritated pink.  Something that signified a night with his ‘boyfriend’ to his mother but told _him_ that perhaps he really wasn’t having post drinking body aches after all.  He damn well knew that he and Oikawa hadn’t slept together and he just as well knew none of his friends had done this to him. While he didn’t understand the reason for the marks he knew the shithole himself was the only one to blame.

He was going to fucking _slaughter_ him.  

“OikA _WA_!” He screamed, his heart pounding and a mixture of embarrassment, anger, and fear bubbling up in his chest.  He raced into the livingroom while his mother’s laugh echoed off the walls of the house.

He was mid reach for Oikawa’s throat when he froze. Oikawa was completely oblivious to his previous scream; sleeping away on his couch with nothing but a thin blanket to accompany the warming air of the morning sea.  The small amount of sun that was gleaming through the windows didn’t seem to bother the mermaid despite it shining on his eyes where dark bags, that had not been present the previous day, now hung heavily.  

Iwaizumi was moving before he could really register what he was doing.  Pulling the blankets up more securely around Oikawa’s shoulders, with the back of his hand brushing against the other’s forehead as he pulled away.  A tender action he had only offered before to his mother. It was cool to the touch and his breathing seemed to be uninhibited, yet he seemed far more pale than before.  Was it because of whatever Oikawa had done yesterday night?     

“Idiot.” Iwaizumi grumbled.  He turned on his heel to leave the room but changed his mind and ended up grabbing another blanket from the hall closet to cover Oikawa with.  The sea breeze could make the house cold in the mornings and evenings after all.  His mother caught his eye with a smug grin as she was passing the room and he felt his cheeks flush, “It’s not like I’m worried or anything, jesus mom! I just don’t want to hear him complain later.”

“Mmhumm, you know the stormy season is rolling in,” She called sounding endlessly amused, “makes the house pretty warm, don’t you think?”

He ducked past her unwilling to meet her eye or acknowledge his tender care towards Oikawa and instead hurried to his room where he grabbed the first set of clothes he got his hands on.  He pulled them on and threw on his volleyball sweats over them.  He only had one lecture today so he grabbed the necessary book before shoving in his bag with enough force to pull a seam or two from the handle.

Shouldering the bag, he went into the kitchen to grab his bentos before attempting a stealthy escape dash for the door. He was caught in the living room a meager 20 steps from the front door, his mother’s voice hushed as she stopped him in his tracks with a simple, “Not going to wake Tooru?”

“...No.”

“Because you _‘don’t want to hear him complain_ ,’ right?” She asked with an arched brow, a cocked hip, and a deathly amused smirk.

“Definitely.”

She laughed at him.

He walked out the door with red cheeks and a stronger grip on his bag. So what if he thought the other should sleep a little longer instead of barring his raccoon eyes to the world? As long as Oikawa didn’t understand his intent and thought him to be a ‘rude human’ leaving him behind then he didn’t care.  His friends too...and, well, if _he_ could forget about his own actions and concern then that would be the best.  Anything to rid himself of his burning red cheeks and squirmy stomach.  

On habit, he found himself wandering out to the beach to settle in the sand.  While the impulse he normally had to go to this spot was significantly weaker, he still found himself at a loss for another way to appease his mind or to distract himself from his current thoughts. So on the sand he sat, knees pulled to his chest and chin on his crossed arms.

Time became a distant thought buzzing in the background of his conscious.  He was more aware of the way it passed as the sun began to peak above the horizon staining the clouds with pink and yellow hues.  The view was ruined by the stab of obsession pricking at his brain.  It slowly became harder for him to simply appreciate the ocean’s scenery and the feeling of the salt breeze with the fixation of _water_ filling him.  The thought of submersion crossed his thoughts and he swallowed thickly—he hadn’t taken mamaw’s pills that morning.

The urge to go to the water pressured his conscious but the memory of past experience stopped him.  He knew it would only bring shaking limbs and vomit leaving behind the shame of not being able to suck it up and get a goddamn toe in the water. Yet, the urge still burned his conscious; he clenched his trembling hands.  

A touch on his bicep shocked him enough that he lost sight of the ocean waters and he turned to the side with a ‘sorry makki’ ready on his lips.  It died when he was met with brown swoopy hair and equally brown eyes marred with thick hanging bags.  His eyes darted down to the full pouting lips belonging to one Oikawa Tooru; mermaid in disguise.

“Iwa-chan,” he whined, “why didn’t you wake me up?”

“Uh…”

Oikawa huffed in irritation but merely pulled at Iwaizumi’s arm trying to get him to stand, “You promised to show me human life! Well, I won’t let you get away with this Iwa-chan!”    

Iwaizumi scowled and unsuccessfully tugged his arm back, “I’ve shown you enough.”

Oikawa fell uncharacteristically silent, a calculative frown pressing down on his lips before he huffed out a full chest of annoyed air, “Look at you Iwa-chan, being so stubborn and ruining my hard work.”

“...What?”

“Do you remember last night, at all?” Oikawa asked while shifting his weight to cock his hip out to the side, “For some reason you thought you wouldn’t…”

“I drank too much, “Iwaizumi said, his gaze sliding back out to the water, “of course I wouldn’t remember very much.”

But he did remember Oikawa’s terrifying gaze staring him down on the train.  He remembered being scared out of his mind that he was going to die in that one moment.  He also remembered Oikawa’s singing, how it drowned out the memory of everything wretched and gruesome in his life and dampened the imagery from the train.  He recalled how warm and safe he had felt and how _wrong_ that seemed to him now.  A strong pinch on his nose pulled him from his thoughts.

“Hey!” He snapped trying to swat Oikawa’s hand away from his face.

“Stop coming out here to do this, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa’s voice was unusually soft as his hand fell away from Iwaizumi’s face, “It’s no good for you.”

“What do you care?” Iwaizumi snapped as he pulled his arms into his chest and wiggled into the sand just a bit more as if to physically show Oikawa that he was very content where he was, thank you very much.

“Hmmm,” Oikawa seemed to take the question seriously as he scrunched his nose and brought his hand to his chin; stroking the skin there as if in deep thought, “I guess I don’t!  More like I’m very intrigued by Iwa-chan.”

Iwaizumi felt his eyes narrow and his jaw slacken in a huff of disbelief, “Huh?”

“I mean if you look at the facts, I’ve already sang to Iwa-chan like a million times and still you revert back to-” Oikawa gestured to Iwaizumi with a look of disgust on his face, “-well this.  We already know how _amazing_ I am at singing heart into things so pray tell why it isn’t working for you?”

“...I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Oikawa groaned in frustration before he bent down and squashed the others face between his hands, “What I’m _saying_ is to stop being so _stubborn_ and let me influence you, Iwa-chan! It’s very irritating for someone of my calibur to be brushed off so much!”  

Iwaizumi felt his face pull into an automatic look of revulsion, “No?”

Oikawa repeated the frustrated noise and dug his fingernails through his hair trying to displace his own indignation.  He flopped down next to Iwaizumi on the sand and was promptly ignored while the other returned to staring at the sea.  Only occasionally flicking his gaze towards Oikawa, who had moved his arm to be over his eyes as if going through a very heavy depressive period.  Or perhaps he had just fallen asleep, with the heavy duty bags under his eyes, it wouldn’t have been surprising. Then, the other sprung into action startling Iwaizumi.

“Well!” Oikawa said decisively as he hurried into a standing position, “Either way, you aren’t allowed to stay here anymore! I want to go do some fun things!”

Iwaizumi could only stare in disbelief before he gestured widely, “Nothing is stopping you, go,” he made a shooing motion.

“Iwa-chan is a slow learner.” Oikawa sighed while pressing a dramatic hand to his forehead, “You must be the kind that learns by action.”

Iwaizumi’s retort was cut off by the startling strength in Oikawa’s grip on his arm which manhandled him into a standing position. He barely had the sense of mind to grab his school bag before he was being dragged off towards the train station. Any and all complaints were ignored and his many attempts at freeing his arm were met with nerve wracking amount of stubborn resistance. By the time the train had arrived, Iwaizumi had given up on escape and Oikawa happily sat them down on a near empty row of seats.  

It was only once he caught Oikawa squinting at the map across from them that he realized the other probably had no idea where they were going.  He sighed heavily wondering if it would be worth it to point it out or if it were more beneficial for him to just stay quiet and let Oikawa do as he pleased until he was satisfied. However, that ran the risk of Oikawa _never_ being satisfied.

“Do you even know where you're kidnapping me to?” Iwaizumi groaned while crossing his ankle over his knee.

“You aren't a kid so this isn't a kidnapping-” Oikawa retorted.

“-Right, _abducting_ then-”

Oikawa spoke loudly over him, “-and it's so hard to make out the squiggles of your language so have patience Iwa-chan, good things come to those who wait.”

“Wait too long and all you'll get is a missed stop,” Iwaizumi said dryly.

Oikawa _harrumphed_ loudly and crossed his arms childishly before he stood pointedly and marched to the map, studying it closely. Iwaizumi rolled his eyes then watched his back tense before he shifted his weight three times and turned around rubbing his nose with his pointer finger, red in the face.  Iwaizumi raised his eyebrow. It was ignored as Oikawa sat down again and mumbled out an embarrassed sounding, “We're getting off at the next stop.”

“Miss your original stop did we?” Iwaizumi asked with a smug smirk.

“Of course not.” Oikawa lifted his chin high into the air, “I just thought a small walk would do us good!”

“You know that even though it's a four minute train ride it's almost a thirty minute walk back to the previous station right?”

Iwaizumi had the pleasure of watching the realization sink in that if they walked they would be late to things that Oikawa enjoyed, like volleyball and human watching. He couldn't help the grin that overcame his face, lips pulling back to show his teeth, when Oikawa slumped in his seat and mumbled that they would be getting on the train going in the opposite direction at the next stop. He didn’t bother trying to hide his snickering either.

They changed trains and rode back to the previous stop where Iwaizumi obediently followed Oikawa out into the streets until the other seemed to find what he was looking for.  It was just a simple coffee shop, wooden panels making up the walls and a small blackboard outside with the listed special scraped onto it in electric pink chalk.  Iwaizumi raised an eyebrow as Oikawa slid the door open and called out a greeting; if it was coffee he wanted then why didn’t they just go to the Starbucks on campus?

They were greeted by someone who appeared to be a college part-timer and were told to pick a seat wherever they wanted.  Oikawa led him over to a corner table where the sun was shining through the adjacent window.  He sat across from the faux human propping his head up on his hand.  The part-timer offered them menus and Iwaizumi took it with a smile directed towards her.  

“So Iwa-chan _can_ smile,” Oikawa gasped in surprise and Iwaizumi rolled his eyes.

“How do you intend to pay for any of this?” Iwaizumi misdirected.

“Of course Iwa-chan will pay!” Oikawa’s bright smile and careless demeanor made him want to punch the radiance straight out of his stupid mermaid appeal.

“Who says I brought a wallet with me today.”

“It’s in your bag next to your textbook~” Oikawa chirped as he looked over the menu, “What’s a frappachino?”

“Why do you know that?” Iwaizumi sighed wearily, “It’s a frozen drink.”

Oikawa hummed thoughtfully and proceeded to ignore Iwaizumi’s question and scanned the menu.  Iwaizumi sighed, not feeling aggressive enough to pursue an answer and instead folded his menu before placing it on the table.  He always got the same thing so it never really mattered to him.  The Americano was the only thing that didn’t taste overly sweetened to him so it was by default the only drink worth his money.  

He studied Oikawa who seemed to be focusing on each individual word of the description and each letter of the drink’s name.  It was, of course, time consuming and being late to volleyball again wasn’t something that interested him.  So he picked up the menu and scanned through it.  Knowing Oikawa, he would like something sweeter, maybe too sweet for any normal person’s tastes but he didn’t necessarily think that he would be opposed to the bitter drinks either.  For the good of Iwaizumi’s sanity something low in caffeine would be the prime choice.  

“Why don’t you try a Cafe Miel?” Iwaizumi suggested.

“Which one is that?” Oikawa asked, his lips puffing into a confused pout as he scanned for the item.

“Under espresso,” Iwaizumi said as he placed his finger on Oikawa’s menu, “it’s got cinnamon and honey in it.”

It was also only _one_ shot of espresso instead of the default of two or more.  Something to satisfy Oikawa and keep things manageable for Iwaizumi.  It seemed to be working because Oikawa flashed him a blinding grin—that did not make any sort of emotion flicker in him whatsoever—before setting down the menu and nodding, “Okay! Thanks, Iwa-chan!”  

“Yeah, whatever...no problem,” he grumbled out while rubbing a finger under his nose.

Sensing, or rather staring obsessively until they had put their menus down, the part-timer realized they were ready to order and came bouncing over.  She seemed happier this time and Iwaizumi couldn’t quite figure out why she was smiling extra wide at him.  He was half tempted to ask if she was okay or if she needed to go wash her eye out; she was blinking too often for something to _not_ be wrong, but he didn’t want to embarrass her so he stayed quiet.  

“Do girls flirt with Iwa-chan a lot?” Oikawa asked after she had left with their orders neatly tucked in her glitter coated notebook.

“That’s sudden,” Iwaizumi blurted out a little shocked, “but I don’t think so.  I mean I can’t really think of any times that someone has flirted with me?”

Oikawa squinted at him as if he were trying to figure out a difficult puzzle or like he was trying to read the subway map. Iwaizumi found himself wishing he had a glass of water that he could distract himself with, the stare was really too intense.

“Iwa-chan is... _really_ dense.”

“ _What_?” Iwaizumi barked out, appalled.  This was all coming out of nowhere and it wasn’t like Oikawa had room to speak, “You’re more messed up than I thought. If you’re going to be weird, go somewhere else and sleep it off, eyebag-kawa.”

“...That one doesn’t even sound like a good insult.  You’re getting less clever, Iwa-chan.”

Iwaizumi huffed out an exasperated sigh but forced himself to stay silent, there was no use provoking the situation–especially not in the morning.  Instead, he took a moment to calm down and listen to the whistle of the milk steamer and the static of jazz filtering over the cafe’s speakers.

“Why did you bring me out here, anyway?”

“Makki-chan said it was a good place to go!” Oikawa chirped seemingly undisturbed by the change in conversation.

“Why _now_?” Iwaizumi pressed, “I have class in a few hours and volleyball before that.”

“Because Iwa-chan wastes away on the beach and I’m sick of it.” Oikawa’s cheery smile was off putting from the harshness in his tone.  The words and the face just didn’t add up and Iwaizumi was having a hard time reading in between the lines.

Luckily, he was saved from a reply by the barista coming back a little pink faced and looking more put together than she had before. Like she had smeared on some lip cream? It was a dry morning so far away from the coast, so Iwaizumi thought her lips must have been chapped.  She leaned in a little too close to him while she set his drink down and he found it odd that she wouldn’t look at Oikawa until he thanked her with a charming smile and a wink.  She went red and was obviously flustered as she took her leave.

“Don’t harass the staff,” Iwaizumi snapped as he hooked his thumb through the handle of the mug and cupped the curve of it with the palm of his hand.  It was hot against his skin.

“But Iwa-chan,” Oikawa protested as he looped a finger through his mug handle, “she would have felt dejected if someone didn’t return her advances!”

“What are you talking about?” Iwaizumi asked suspiciously, eyes narrowing.

“Just making a comment on how dense you are,” Oikawa said smugly before he took a sip of his drink.  His eyes lit up and he smiled a Iwaizumi, a frothy milk moustache on his upper lip, “Oh! Iwa-chan was right, this is good!”

“I’m not dense!” He protested.  Oikawa only laughed at him, so he took a drink of his own coffee when he remembered the aching scratches over his arms and back, “HEY!”

Oikawa jumped and looked at him wide eyed like he had done something wrong, Iwaizumi ignored the little pile of guilt in his gut.  When it grew with Oikawa’s lost look he blamed it on the fact that he had also startled the barista.

“Iwa-chan?”

“What the fuck did you do to me last night? My mom thinks we-,” he stopped mid sentence when he realized _exactly what his mother thought_ and that they were very much in _public_.

“What about auntie?” Oikawa asked, his confusion growing as he wiped the milky foam from his upper lip with the pad of his thumb.

“ _Nothing_ , nevermind about my mom,” Iwaizumi huffed out feeling heat spread across his face and he lowered his voice, “I _mean_ what the hell was my back all scratched up for?!”

Iwaizumi knew the demand could come with any number of reactions.  He was prepared for haughtiness or even feigned innocence from Oikawa.  He expected a witty retort or quick words sliced from the curl of Oikawa’s tongue.  What he didn’t expect was the start of a flush that spread from Oikawa’s cheeks to his ears and down his neck.  

“Oikawa..” The word crawled out of his mouth in a slow drag, one that suggested no games to be played and only the truth of the situation.  No matter how embarrassed the other seemed to be because if it was anything like his _mother_ thought it was; he might just commit a felony.

“Uh,” Oikawa cleared his throat and avoided eye contact by stirring his coffee anxiously as the heated flush deepened in color across his skin, “I may...or may _not_ have accidentally, _possibly_ , maybe...dropped...Iwa-chan…?”

“I’m sorry, you what?” Thin disbelief coated Iwaizumi’s voice because honestly he had been skeptical when his mother informed him of how he had arrived back home and he had been expecting so much worse.

“Iwa-chan was heavy!” Oikawa protested, “and I was _really_ tired! I didn’t _see_ the seaweed until I stepped on it and in my defense, Iwa-chan, I did try to catch you!  I just...mostly ended up digging my fingers into your back...I was hoping you wouldn’t notice…”

Iwaizumi buried his face in his hands trying to hide his relieved grin.  He had only been dropped!  Nothing embarrassing on his part—other than the fact that he had to be carried home like an infant—but it was Oikawa who suffered the embarrassment.  Something that Iwaizumi suspected was growing in Oikawa’s chest, forming into sweet _sweet_ mortification.  He couldn’t stop the rumbling laugh that burst from his chest drowning out Oikawa’s panicked pleas for forgiveness.

He could only _imagine_ the twisted look of hysteria on Oikawa’s face as he dropped Iwaizumi.  It would probably be stretched to its full potential, mouth dropped open and eyes so wide they would be bugging out.  He’d probably make some weird noise as Iwaizumi, obviously too intoxicated to wake, crumbled down to the ground.  The mental image was too much and it sent Iwaizumi into a deeper fit of laughter, making tears run down his cheeks.  

He had only been dropped.  He didn’t think the answer would be so relieving.

“It’s not that funny, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa was trying to sound defensive but when Iwaizumi looked at him through his teary vision, he seemed as if he were looking at Iwaizumi in amazement; his tone lacking any bite.

He managed to gain control of his laughter and wiped away the tears on his face with the heel of his palm, “Right, okay not funny,” he chortled.  Oikawa’s pinched reaction nearly set him off again but he managed to contain himself. Oikawa harrumphed and flipped his hair before he took another sip of his coffee, eyes sliding over to look at Iwaizumi over the rim of his mug.  

Iwaizumi couldn’t help himself.  His traitorous brain conjured the thought that if Oikawa had slipped on seaweed and dropped Iwaizumi it probably meant that he _too_ had fallen.   _That_ mental image was enough of have him chuckling into his own coffee.

Oikawa huffed and slammed his drink and hands down on the table as he protested, “ _not funny!_ ”

“It’s funny,” Iwaizumi choked out.

“Well, you’re going to be late to volleyball, so there!” Oikawa snapped back childishly, a blush still high on his puffed out cheeks.

“You’re going to be late too,” Iwaizumi snorted, but he did finish his hot drink in three more large gulps.

“ _Barbarian_ ,” Oikawa hissed as he turned to the barista to ask for a to go cup.

Before he knew it, going out before class had become a habit.  Everyday, Oikawa would pull him past the allure of the beach and they would head out to any part of town that had already risen.  They frequented almost every coffee shop in the downtown district and even a few small shops that were open.  

Iwaizumi had to explain that most shops near the fish market opened up early to catch any sleepy children that were being dragged along by their parents.  More often than not the children could guilt a couple purchases in for being woken so early, which always seemed to wake them right up.

Oikawa, it seemed, had taken an instant liking to that.  He had watched one child, just once, and took to the guilt trips like a pro; to the point that Iwaizumi couldn’t tell the team that Oikawa’s new sparkly volleyball backpack charm was because he had successfully guilted Iwaizumi into buying it for him; or the backpack for that matter.  However, the team seemed to know without either of them saying anything.  He noticed, from their sly smiles and inappropriate winks, that they were very aware of the fact that Oikawa and Iwaizumi were out and about hours before practice every day. He suspected Makki outed them since neither Oikawa nor himself were at the beach in the mornings for the other to find; it only made sense that Makki put two and two together.  

In what seemed to be a blink of an eye, four days had passed and found himself waking up expectant of Oikawa’s sparkly eyes and overly energized attitude for a chance to see something new.  It was when he had only fondly smiled in reaction to Oikawa’s exuberant babbling that he realized he too was looking forward to going to town.  The thought scared him and when he tried to convince Oikawa to go alone he was only met with an eyeroll and more persistent tugging on his arm, until his got his ass out of bed and accompanied Oikawa to their newest destination; a common bookstore.

It had become almost entertaining to watch Oikawa discover the human world.  Iwaizumi found himself watching the other more as he _ooed_ and _awed_ with overly bright eyes at any little trinket he found.  Things that Iwaizumi found completely normalized like book covers, book marks, or even writing utensils that were used, by literally everyone, without a second thought.  Oikawa on the other hand loved to run his fingers over them commenting on each little thing that he found interesting.

“These seem so advanced from the last time I was here!” The comment was instantly dropped as Oikawa moved on to ask, “Iwa-chan why do people cover their books?”

“Mmm, variety of reasons,” Iwaizumi answered with a small shrug as he slipped a packet of pens from a hook; he’d need more for their upcoming assignments since his were running low on ink.

“Like what?” Oikawa asked his long fingers fiddling with the elasticity of the synthetic covers.

“Some people want to keep their things nice,” Iwaizumi relented while slipping in some rubber erasers into his basket, “sometimes people are embarrassed by the book they’re reading so they hide the front covers.”

Oikawa seemed to process this with a furled brow and a pouting bottom lip before he nodded decisively to himself, “Iwa-chan, I want four!”

Iwaizumi sputtered to a stop looking back at Oikawa with an incredulous look slapped on his face, “for _what_?”

“Books obviously,” Oikawa said as he began sliding out the covers that caught his attention.

“ _Ohhh_ no!” Iwaizumi protested as he snatched the products back and flung them back into their crate, “You don’t even have books to _use_ them on!”

“But...Iwa-chan,” Oikawa looked up at him with big eyes and his signature Pout™, “they’re so pretty…”

Iwaizumi would like to say he was just as resistant to The Pout™ now as he was day one, but the uncomfortable churning in his gut proved him wrong. He sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair, “You can have two.” Oikawa hissed out a quiet _yes_ and shuffled through to find his favorite covers.

Iwaizumi felt like a worn down parent.

“This means I get to pick two books too, right?” Oikawa chirped happily as he sifted through the paper covers.

The worn down feeling only increased in strength.

“Sure,” he sighed simply, feeling oddly defeated.

Oikawa hummed happily, taking his time looking through all the different books the store had to offer.  Iwaizumi watched his long fingers slide down the smooth paper covers and wrinkled plastic wraps of novels, short story collections, and fantasy.  Watched Oikawa’s lips form the words slowly and silently, as he read.  Found himself staring at the small wrinkle on the others forehead whenever he ran into a kanji that stumped him.  Sometimes he would figure it out and keep moving, other times the corner of his lips would twist downward and Iwaizumi would fall into a squat next to him to read the word quietly for him.

Oikawa always looked surprised when he did.  Iwaizumi figured it was because he had been concentrating hard enough to forget Iwaizumi was even standing next to him.  As he observed he found himself hoping that Oikawa didn’t go through all the books like this because they were only on the first shelf of the new releases section and there was a whole store left.  Yet, at the same time he found himself wanting to look on a little while longer.

The thought made him stand suddenly in a fit of self-realization and his cheeks reddened at Oikawa’s questioning look.  Since when did he let himself get lost and pulled along like this? It was unlike him.

“Something wrong, Iwa-chan?” Oikawa asked.  

Iwaizumi couldn’t even sass him with how genuine that question sounded, “Just a thought occurred to me, but...where did you learn to read?”

Oikawa’s eyes opened wide and his lips parted in surprise; head slipping to tilt to the right.  Iwaizumi stiffened instantly, perhaps Oikawa thought he was insulting him for thinking he couldn’t just normally learn how to read.  Or maybe he thought Iwaizumi was trying to make fun of him for not being able to read certain words.

“You know…” he carried on awkwardly, “because books don’t, um, stay together under water or anything…”

Oikawa’s eyebrow twitched in what seemed to be amusement before a small smile graced his face, “This is surprising. Iwa-chan is asking about me.”

Iwaizumi felt his features automatically draw into confusion, it wasn’t like it was the first time he had asked something about Oikawa.  He had asked plenty the first two days the mermaid had stormed his house and forced him to play tour guide. Oikawa seemed to see this because he elaborated;

“I just mean that Iwa-chan doesn’t like to ask or answer personal questions.”

“Where you learned to read is personal?” Iwaizumi asked skeptically.

“A little.” Oikawa answered with a shrug as he went back to looking through the titles, “It’s not my first time being on the surface you know.  While it’s true that I haven’t been on this particular island in, oh jeeze, probably a hundred years or so-”

Iwaizumi swiveled his head around quickly making sure that no one was around to hear _that_ particular statement.  There was no one.

“-I _have_ surfaced on some other land that is...how would you say...affiliated? With this one,” Oikawa answered while pulling a book from the shelf and handing it to Iwaizumi who placed it in the basket, “I also have friends that share what they learned with me.  We all do.  Anytime someone survives and makes it back from the surface we go to learn what they learned.”

“Anytime...someone survives..” Iwaizumi repeated blankly.  He had a feeling Oikawa was referring to the yearly cullings.

“Sometimes mermaids are found out,” he answered in a hushed tone and pained eyes, “sometimes friends just...never come home.”

Oikawa’s face became pained and shadowed as his lips tilted into a scowl.  It made Iwaizumi’s heart flutter for just a moment and he had to fight with the urge to offer some sort of half baked comfort.  Yet, he couldn’t just sit there and watch the other stew in whatever negative memory or thought he was stuck in.  So he cleared his throat and shifted his weight awkwardly.

“So...by affiliated islands you mean one of the 4 main islands?” Iwaizumi asked and Oikawa nodded his face lightening up.

“One of my friends has guardianship over the big one.”

“Oh,” Iwaizumi drawled out, a smirk pulling over his lips, “so he’s got more prestige than you.”

His teasing tone worked like a charm.  It had Oikawa scoffing at him and spinning on the balls of his feet where he was squatting by the books, hands coming to rest on the curves of his hips and he glared up at Iwaizumi. Iwaizumi had to admit, he liked not being looked down on by Oikawa and the imagery of him having to tilt his chin to get a proper glare in was nearly addictive.

“ _As if_ , Iwa-chan,” Oikawa huffed as he tossed his head, hair bouncing viciously, “I’m the highest ranking mer-”

“-Shh,” Iwaizumi interrupted with a hand over Oikawa’s mouth as someone else had walked into the store.  His hand was slapped away by one of Oikawa’s and he blew air from his nose in a manner that suggested his irritation.

“As I was saying,” he pressed in a tone that suggested he was offended, “I am the highest ranking _official_ of _all_ my friends.”

“So _sorry_ your highness,” Iwaizumi said sarcastically before his grin turned wicked, “look at you now.  If only your friends could see you reduced to begging for books,” he squatted down to be near Oikawa’s level and lowered his voice, “begging a mere _human_ nonetheless.”

“I can still curse you,” Oikawa threatened with narrowed eyes.

Iwaizumi only laughed, “That’s gotten old.”

Oikawa stuck his tongue out and went back to looking through the titles before he grabbed his second choice book and tossed it in the basket with a haughty look to Iwaizumi.  He couldn’t help the amused grin that overcame his lips at the sheer degree that Oikawa had tilted his chin so he could appear more mighty than he was. Like he didn’t already have 5 centimeters over Iwaizumi in height.

“I’ll just have to get more creative then,” Oikawa huffed, his chin rising another centimeter.

“You do that,” Iwaizumi laughed as they stood and he followed Oikawa to the register.

Oikawa tossed his hair and and tilted his chin back down into something slightly less haughty as he leaned forward on the counter and greeted the elderly woman working with a chipper greeting.  Saved from the burden of socialization, Iwaizumi let him chat her up while she scanned their items through.  He went to pull his wallet from his bag but noticed that his phone was vibrating with a call.  He pulled it out first checking that it was indeed Hanamaki calling before sliding the bar to answer and tossing the phone to Oikawa.

“It’s Makki,” he said shortly before grabbing his wallet and pulling out enough money to cover the expenses.  Oikawa looked a little shell shocked before he pressed the device to his ear.

“Hello Makki-Chan~” Oikawa said cheerfully before his brow furled, “hello?”

Iwaizumi glanced over and sighed heavily before giving the elderly woman an apologetic look and he plucked the phone from Oikawa’s hand and rotated it, “It’s upside down, idiot.”

Unphased, Oikawa pressed the device to his ear again, “Makki-chan~ Good morning!”

“I’m the same way with these new phones,” the cashier said as she carefully placed Iwaizumi’s change in the tray.  

“Ah, yes it does get complicated,” Iwaizumi conceded not finding the heart to simply say that the top of the phone really wasn’t that hard to find.  He slid the change from the tray and neatly put it away in his wallet while she taped the bag.

“Thank you for coming,”she said barely audible over Oikawa’s excited chatter. Iwaizumi took the bag with a short but appropriate tilt of his head before turning to lead the way out of the store.  

“I don’t know Makki-chan,” Oikawa said slowly hesitance curling around his words while he side-eyed Iwaizumi, “I don’t think it sounds like a good idea…”

“What doesn’t?” Iwaizumi asked only to be ignored by Oikawa’s pout and quiet _hmmm_.

“I see…” He said quietly, “Well, Okay if Makki-chan says so! We’ll be there!”  Oikawa sang with a kind of happiness that seemed more forced than normal as he pulled the phone away from his ear, “Iwa-chan, how do I hang up?”

Hanamaki’s loud laughter filtered from the speaker right before Iwaizumi tapped to end the call.  He took his phone back and slipped it in his bag before raising an eyebrow at Oikawa, “What did he want?”  

“We’re going on a double date tomorrow~” Oikawa’s grin stretched wide over his face like he _knew_ Iwaizumi was going to be upset about that.

“A double date?  With who?”

“Makki-chan and Mattsun!  Duh Iwa-chan.”

“...They’re...they’re dating?!”  Iwaizumi gasped.

“Iwa-chan is so dense,” Oikawa laughed, “It was even obvious to me!  They are always all over each other and they even brushed hands the other day like they were going to hold hands or something!”

“You don’t understand,” Iwaizumi huffed, “They’ve been like that since _high school_!  I’ve just been waiting for one of them to suck it up and ask to date but...damn I didn’t think they had already done it…”

“Iwa-chan actually figured it out?!” Oikawa gasped with a dramatic hand up to cover his mouth, “My Iwa-chan who can’t even tell when he’s being hit on?!”

Iwaizumi rolled his eyes as he dug his phone back out to shoot a quick text to Makki while ignoring Oikawa’s rambling.  His fingers hesitated over the passcode and he habitually tilted the screen away from Oikawa’s gaze before he entered it in.  He pulled up his message box for Hanamaki and frowned when he realized the last conversation he had was actually done by Oikawa.

“Hey...how did you get into my phone to send these messages?”  

Oikawa leaned over to look at the screen as if he had forgotten all about his burglary of Iwaizumi’s phone, “Oh, Iwa-chan is a simple human,” he said shortly.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Iwaizumi asked unsure if he should be offended or not.

“The number code was only four digits and the person Iwa-chan most cares for is auntie.  Humans seem to have this weird fixation around birthday’s so I asked auntie when hers was and it opened right up for me.”

Iwaizumi was torn between embarrassment and awe.  He had a feeling there was some sort of quick intelligence to Oikawa, he’d have to be to keep up with the modernism of humans that he was experiencing, but he hadn’t thought it to go that far.  

In the end he only mumbled out a low, “Keep your grubby hands off my phone,” and ignored Oikawa’s laughing.

_[ hey congrats on finally getting together.  How long ago did it happen?  Recent or?  ]_

_[...Iwaizumi...my man...I love you but you’re dumb as hell ]]_

_[ what the fuck? I’ve known you two were interested in each other since high school but I didn’t think either of you had worked up the courage to ask the other out  ]_

_[ Hajime. Mattsun asked me out in our first year of high school.  We’ve literally been dating for years.  ]_

_[ ....you’ve got to be fucking kidding me.  ]_

_[ I’ll see you tonight, dumbass.  No skipping out.  ]_

“Well?” Oikawa asked looking overly amused like he just _knew_ how that conversation had gone.

A heavy sigh left his lips before he pinched the skin between his eyes and ignored the question, opting to ask his own instead, “Where are we going?  For this date...”

“Swimming,” Oikawa said, a complicated expression taking over the smile.

“Swimming…?” Iwaizumi repeated hesitantly, “at the college swimming pool, right?”

“In the ocean,” Oikawa said with a slight frown as he began ticking off _something_ on his fingers.

“Uh, I’ll have to pass,” Iwaizumi said firmly.

“Makki-chan said you aren’t allowed to pass and that they are going to help Iwa-chan _‘achieve his dream’?_ ” The complexity of Oikawa’s expression shifted to a look that questioned him.

“My...dream,” Iwaizumi sighed again feeling stress already settling in his shoulders.  Of course Makki was referring to the fact that Iwaizumi, the son of a fisherman and lover of the ocean, could not step foot into the ocean without degrading into some sort of psychosomatic breakdown.  He had always said they would help him swim again, go boating again, but Iwaizumi knew the impossibility of that particular goal.  

Oikawa seemed to realize that it was something Iwaizumi wasn’t going to expand on so he continued with crossed arms and a slight frown, “I don’t want Iwa-chan to go.”

Instant rebellion sprung up in Iwaizumi’s gut but he only frowned at Oikawa, it wasn’t like he wanted to go either, “Why not?”

“Be _cause_ ,” Oikawa whined as he childishly stomped his foot, “I just spent all that time getting Iwa-chan _away_ from the beach and now it’s all going to be _ruined_!”  

Iwaizumi stared blankly, he hadn’t expected The Pout™ to come out but there it was, slathered all over Oikawa’s face like cheap lipstick. His lips pushed out into a puffy protest and misty tears in his eyes which fully conveyed his utter frustration at his foiled plans.  While Iwaizumi wasn’t one to embarrass himself in front of others he did get sick satisfaction from upsetting Oikawa’s ‘carefully crafted’ plans.

“Suck it up buttercup, we’re going,” he shrugged; and despite Oikawa’s flabbergasted look of betrayal and hurt casting complete gratification in his gut, Iwaizumi just knew...

He was going to end up regretting this.

Iwaizumi only lasted until he and Oikawa were seated in his last lecture for the day before he was trying to come up with a plan to get out of going with the two hellhounds “master plan,” regret boiling in his belly.  The only plan that had a bare minimum chance of working out was to leave his lecture early.  One side glance at Oikawa’s face of interest and concentration threw that plan out the window.  There was no way they’d be able to leave quietly and unnoticed because he was 98% positive that Oikawa would whine at him to stay. With a sigh Iwaizumi tuned back into the lecture, anything that could make Oikawa’s eyes sparkle with such curiosity probably wasn’t enough to drive him completely mad with boredom.  

“...And that marks the beginning of our island’s history,” their professor droned.  Iwaizumi resisted the urge to noticeably sigh and run his hands through his hair.  He was pretty sure they had already covered this topic _and_ tested on it, “A history that more than half of you failed on the short quiz so we’ll be covering it again.”

Iwaizumi’s groan of disappointment mixed in with the rest of the classes heavy sighs and mumbles of irritance.  All except oblivious-kawa who quirked his head and asked in a low whisper, “isn’t this exciting Iwa-chan?! I can’t wait to hear how the humans view the history of my island!”

“No. It’s really not.”  Iwaizumi plopped his head down on his folded arms.  He had passed the last quiz.  Barely, but it was enough for him to justify partial attention.

“If you’ll recall from your textbook assignments, you should know that our island started out under the oppressive thumb of the temptress Atargatis,” the professor droned on, uncaring of the heavy sighs from the room.

“Temptress?” Oikawa’s hushed whisper prompted Iwaizumi’s attention.  Oikawa’s brow was furled together, creating deep crevices on his forehead.  He slid Iwaizumi’s book open to the pages written on the board and his finger moved slowly over the letters printed there, a frown beginning to mar his face.

“She disguised herself as a human to steal the hearts of men.  Once she accomplished this she was able to drive them to their deaths in the sea where she and the other sirens would rip the flesh from their bones and have a meal.”  His professor's bored drawl filled the room as he looked down to reference his notes; his students utterly uninterested in the story that they had known since birth.

Iwaizumi slowly sat up observing Oikawa’s tensed position carefully as the other’s fists clenched on the table and his back shook.  Judging by the way his jaw was clenched, Iwaizumi assumed that he was grinding his teeth together like he was trying to formulate thoughts or hold himself together.  Either way, both situations had bad outcomes; perhaps noticeably leaving was the better option after all.

“She was a vile creature, to the point that when her secret was found out and the natives came to know her as a monster.  She cast a curse upon our island damning us all, if it were not for our own spiritual practices that is.  As you are all well aware, those practices cleansed the island of impurities by the siren--,” his monologue was cut off by the squeal of Oikawa’s chair crashing to the ground as he stood.

“Take it back,” Oikawa demanded, his voice harsh and spit flying from his lips.  His fists were caught at his sides and his whole body was shaking.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Oikawa _stop_ ,” Iwaizumi hissed as he stood and tried to tug on the other’s arm.  Oikawa jerked it out of his hold.

“That’s _bullshit_ and this book is bullshit,” Oikawa snarled as he hurled the textbook into the aisle between the lecture chairs, “take back your _disgusting_ claim!  She was _not_ a temptress and a creature as disgusting and vile as _yourself_ has no right to call her as such!”  

“Hey!” Iwaizumi snapped, embarrassment heating his face as the professor demanded to know Oikawa’s name.  He was shaken off again as he tried to pull Oikawa out of the room.

“My name is Oikawa Tooru and you can’t fucking use mermaid and siren like they’re interchangeable words you racist, ignorant, _fool_!”

“ _Idiot_ ,” Iwaizumi hissed before turning to bow and apology to his professor.  His words were drowned out in the heavy sigh of his professors fatigue.

“I see,” he said shortly, “you were named after the supposed prince of the ocean.  Your parents must be mermaid enthusiasts I assume?  Fed you all sorts of lies about how Atargatis was the mother of mermaids and a figure of protection for our island, is that right?”

“How _dare_ you call that a lie!” Oikawa snarled his lip curled.

“I’m very sorry for his behavior,” Iwaizumi said loudly trying to defuse the situation, “he’s very new to our customs and the island itself, please--,”

“--No need to defend him,” his professor interrupted, his right hand raised to stop anymore words from stumbling out of Iwaizumi’s lips, “I welcome differing opinions in the classroom but only when they are brought up in a respectful manner.  If you would simply reword your opinion--,”

“ _Opinion_ ?!” Oikawa howled in outrage, “No. I speak the _truth_ !  You spread _slander_ and _shame_ on her good name!”

“ _Stop it_ ,” Iwaizumi hissed as he slapped his hand on the back of Oikawa’s neck and forced him down into a bow, “I’m very sorry but I think we should go for the day! Please excuse us.”

Iwaizumi stooped to grab his things and tugged on Oikawa’s arm to get him to follow.  When it didn’t work he switched his grip to the other’s ear and _yanked_.  The sudden give in Oikawa’s posture and his sharp yelp of pain were noted in the back of Iwaizumi’s brain as a way to get Oikawa to move in the future.  He stooped to pick up his discarded book on the way out, forcing Oikawa to stoop as well as he still held a grip on the other’s ear.  

He didn’t release the other until they were outside of the building and under the shade of a magnolia tree in bloom. Iwaizumi threw his things to the ground and crossed his arms, a hard glare directed at Oikawa who still looked absolutely _livid_. Oikawa opened his mouth to speak and Iwaizumi stopped him by placing a hand over the other’s lips.

“For god’s sake Kusokawa,” Iwaizumi grit out, “don’t fucking speak right now.  Not until you calm the fuck down and not until _I_ calm the fuck down or god so help me I will _kick your ass_ back into the shitty _fucking_ ocean.”

Something in his tone must have suggested his serious intention and Oikawa fell blessedly silent.  Iwaizumi let his hand drop and he took a deep breath and gathered his things neatly into his bag.  Oikawa leaned against the trunk of the tree and fumed silently, teeth audibly grinding together. Iwaizumi sat on the grass ignoring the bit of dampness from the dew that had yet to evaporate.

“Sit,” he ordered with a sharp tug on Oikawa’s newly purchased pants. Oikawa shifted his weight in silent protest but eventually plopped down onto the ground next to Iwaizumi.  Of course, Oikawa couldn’t follow his orders for long; Iwaizumi was fairly certain he was inherently rebellious.  

“He’s _wrong_ ,” Oikawa said thickly and Iwaizumi sighed.  He pinched the skin between his eyes hoping that he could have gotten just a little more time to calm down but alas, Oikawa liked to make things difficult.  He turned to look at the other, mouth open and ready to berate him for being a nuisance but the words died on his lips when he caught sight of the tears in Oikawa’s eyes and the look of utter desperation on his face.  The anger died out of Iwaizumi’s stomach and he sighed, softer this time. Oikawa liked to make things complicated too.

Iwaizumi took a breath and hoped he wasn’t going to regret this, “Why is he wrong?”

Oikawa looked briefly surprised like he had been expecting a hefty scolding but the look disappeared in mere seconds, “Atargatis is our _mother_ ,” Oikawa said, his voice strained.

“I hate to break it to you but just because she’s your mom doesn’t mean she can’t do wrong or be a bad person-er-mermaid.”

“That’s just the thing Iwa-chan.  She wasn’t born a mermaid.  She was human.”

“Uh...I don’t follow.” Iwaizumi scratched his head and tried to wrap his mind around the information while trying _not_ to set off Oikawa’s rage again, “How can she be your mom but not be a mermaid?”

“She’s not my birth mom,” Oikawa huffed, “she’s the mother of all, the first mermaid.”

“But...she’s human?  Look you have to realize that you’re not making sense, right?”

Oikawa pinned him with a sharp glare and then sighed his gaze falling to his own knees, “If I tell you have to promise to actually consider it.  If you believe what that _vile_ man says then I won’t...I won’t let you insult her.”

“I’m listening alright,” Iwaizumi sighed, “I’ve been told the same story all my life so pardon me for having a little belief in it...but...I guess there’s always two sides to a story so, lay it on me.”

“Wow,” Oikawa said blandly, “that looked like it physically hurt you to say.”

“Shut up,” Iwaizumi huffed with a red face, “just tell me the story!”

“I thought I was supposed to shut up.”

“ _Oi_ kawa!”

“Fine!” Oikawa huffed before letting his hand drop into the grass.  He rubbed a single blade between the pads of his fingers before he opened his mouth again, “Atargatis was born as an exceptionally beautiful woman.  So beautiful that she became recognized by the gods as an honorary goddess.  She was supposed to leave her home island, this one, to go be with the other goddesses but she had fallen in love with a human man.  He too had fallen for her as she was as soft and pure as a man could want.”

“Gross.” Iwaizumi wrinkled his nose.

“Shut up Iwa-chan,” Oikawa huffed, “ _Anyway_ , as a goddess she was forbidden to marry or become the lover to any human.  They tried to cast the gods aside and elope but Atargatis had already accepted to be a goddess.  In a desperate attempt to sway the gods from pursuing them they made love.  It worked for a little bit but Zeus became aware that a goddess was on earth and upon seeing her face he ordered that the pursuit was to begin anew.”

“Fucking Zeus,” Iwaizumi sighed.

“Agreed.” Oikawa smiled softly, “They began running again but this time the ones after them were servants of Zeus and therefore far more powerful.  In an attempt to reduce their numbers Atargatis and the human male planned an ambush.  However, in a mistake Atargatis ended up striking her lover down and accidentally killed him.”

“Shit,” Iwaizumi whispered.

“In her grief, she tried to drown herself in the ocean.  Weighed down by the guilt of her actions she succeeded.  Zeus however did not want to let such beauty die so he convinced the gods to resurrect her.  As a punishment for bedding a human and not acting as a goddess should, she was forbidden from stepping on land again so they gave her the tail of a fish and preserved the beauty of her upper human half.  That was the birth of our mother the first mermaid,” Oikawa said looking oddly sad.

Iwaizumi let it all stew in his brain trying to figure out the similarities of the history he was told versus the one Oikawa knew.  A human turned goddess turned...mermaid?  It all seemed so wild and perhaps if he hadn’t of seen Oikawa’s own tail he might not of believed it but he _had_ seen the tail and the mag- _no_ , Oikawa’s _heart_.  

“Then...how do you explain sirens?” Iwaizumi asked, “Since you said the term isn’t interchangeable.”

“It’s _not_!” Oikawa hissed.  Iwaizumi let him take a break before raising an eyebrow and Oikawa rolled his eyes, “Mother was in grief,” he said shortly.

“What do you mean?”

“Her heart started out as pure as her beauty but when she realized she was cursed to live without her beloved she became consumed by anger and grief.  Mother still had the power and ability of a goddess--the heart all living creatures have--but when she became so poisoned by her hatred she released her first use of _negative_ heart.  It was so potent it killed the sea life around her but took hold in the only thing that could contain it…” Oikawa fell silent at that.

“What…” he almost hated to ask, “what could contain it...Oikawa?”

“...The fresh corpse of a human who had lost his heart in death.”

“I don’t understand…” Iwaizumi admitted and Oikawa sighed heavily as if Iwaizumi’s lack of understanding was a burden on his shoulders.

“Her _lover_ , Iwa-chan,” Oikawa sighed, “she accidentally killed him and his body fell into the sea.  Humans are incredibly absorbent things.  They just take and don’t even realize it when they do.”

“So her...lover’s body absorbed the negative heart?  What...what does that have to do with sirens? Or humans being absorbent, which sounds really weird by the way.”  

Oikawa plucked a blade of grass from the ground, “Watch.”  A pale teal light emitted from the pads of Oikawa’s fingers and simply rolled off the blade of grass where it fell onto the ground.  Iwaizumi whipped his head up making sure no one had seen _that_.  

“Be more careful!” Iwaizumi hissed. Oikawa waved a dismissive hand at him.

“See how it’s not absorbing into the ground, Iwa-chan.”

“Uh...yeah.”  It looked odd and out of place glowing on the dirt where it had sunken to.

“Touch it.”

“ _What_ ?!  No! I’m not gonna _touch_ it!” Iwaizumi clutched his hands to his chest.  Oikawa rolled his eyes again and yanked one of Iwaizumi’s hands out, “Stop! _Oikawa_! No!”

“C’mon Iwa-chan….just trust me.”

“You can’t be serious,” Iwaizumi hissed.  Yet when he looked in Oikawa’s eyes he realized that the other was in fact serious.  Iwaizumi groaned, he had the feeling that Oikawa wouldn’t persist if he really shut him down but his expression seemed tired and honest and just the slightest bit hopeful.  Iwaizumi couldn’t say no.

“...Just this _once_ ,” he grumbled out, ignoring the shaking of his voice.  Oikawa’s smile was blinding.

“Okay, just touch it,” Oikawa said as he released his hold on his wrist.  

Iwaizumi pressed back the whine of protest building in his throat and instead hesitantly reached out to touch the pale teal light.  As soon as his skin came into contact with it, the light zipped up his finger and the sight of it disappeared.  He still felt it as it shocked up through his arm and zapped into his head settling just behind his forehead; he couldn’t help the yelp of shock that slipped from his lips.

“What the fuck, _what the fuck_?!”  He shook his arm frantically, as if the motion could force the light back out of his body.

“You see, humans are very absorbent,” Oikawa said kindly, ignoring Iwaizumi’s panic, “and since humans can’t use their heart, you’ll find that that little piece of me will stay with you until it fades away unable to fester and harvest without a little direction.  Of course that’ll still take a few years.”

“You put a piece of you _in me and you’re telling me it won’t leave?_ ” Iwaizumi hissed out in horror.

“It’s not like it’ll kill you Iwa-chan, there’s not enough of it for that,” Oikawa shrugged and before Iwaizumi could yell at him some more, he interrupted with, “Anyway, humans can hold massive amounts of heart—I mean if they take too much it’ll just kill them so you have to be careful, but when you have a corpse they’re literally empty.  When you die your heart dies too so fresh human corpses can hold scary amounts of heart.  They’re already dead so who cares if you pump it full until the seams start to strain, right?”

“I’m gonna be sick.”

Another eyeroll, “So dramatic,” Oikawa sighed, “Her lover’s corpse supposedly absorbed the negative heart and when the gods tried to interfere and kill off the literal _evil_ , Atargatis became fearful that she would lose her love a second time and she defended him.  Her love fueled the heart in her and supposedly brought her lover back to life as the first siren.  Although some mermaids have doubts about that one.  Heart can do a lot of things but it’s never brought the dead back to life so…”

“That’s too wild…” Iwaizumi said breathlessly, “You’re telling me I have to believe, first of all, that Zeus is an actual real thing?”

“He’s definitely not as prominent now...actually there were some rumors a few hundred years back that the gods had died but you know how the rumor mill is.  They probably just grew bored of us and threw us to the side like usual, you know...”

“No...No Oikawa I _don’t_ know,” Iwaizumi said trying to sound irritable but instead sounded more overwhelmed.

“Right,” Oikawa said awkwardly.

“Okay...so...okay,” Iwaizumi huffed trying to process, “assuming the doubts are real and heart can’t bring back the dead...how did the first siren come to be if not the dead lover?”

“Ahh” Oikawa sighed fondly and an excited gleam in his eye twinkled, “so you see, Iwa-chan, you remember how they made love!”

“Uh...yeah?” Iwaizumi offered when he realized Oikawa was excitedly waiting for an answer.

“Well some mermaids think that the lapse in time after they made love and before Zeus decided to pursue her was long enough for her to become heavily pregnant!  So when she tried to kill herself she would have tried to kill the unborn baby as well, and when the gods brought her back the baby survived too—only you can’t give birth to a whole human through mermaid genitalia so she would have had to of cut the baby from her belly! Then again, some mentors speculate that she had already given birth and the baby was abandoned somewhere in the water beforehand—but the _important_ part is how new humans are so malleable they think that the baby absorbed the negative heart and grew up a siren!  Can you imagine how heartbreaking that would be Iwa-chan!  Your own child grown up to be a mistake of an existence!”  

“I take it you think the baby lived to become the siren?”

“Hmmm, I think it’s more plausible than bringing the dead back to life with _heart_.” Oikawa shrugged and plucked another blade of grass from the ground.

It was all too much to process as _actual_ history.  At first thought he wanted to dismiss it as a rewrite of culture that countries do to make themselves look better than they actually are.  He knew mermaids and Sirens to be one in the same.  Half human, half fish, full hatred towards mankind.  He knew them to be a dangerous force and the reason for his trauma and his father’s disappearance. Yet, it also explained why Oikawa seemed to be so different from the _siren_ he ran into on the sea.  It explained why no matter how creepy he thought it to be, Oikawa’s persistent use of heart on him seemed almost helpful.  Yet, at the same time he had difficulties separating mermaid into a pure ‘good’ and siren into a pure ‘bad.’  It seemed too black and white to him and he found himself horrified to learn that he wanted to know more.

“I need a nap,” Iwaizumi said suddenly, “this is too fucking crazy.”

“Really?” Oikawa asked his voice sounding far too excited to mean anything good, “then let’s go back to Iwa-chan’s house so you can sleep!”

Iwaizumi found his eyes narrowing in suspicion, “What are you up to?”

“Yeah, Oikawa,” a third voice prompted teasingly, “what _are_ you up to?”

Iwaizumi flipped around to see Hanamaki standing with his hands on his hips looking rather snide with Matsukawa standing beside him.  His heart sank in his chest, he had completely forgotten about the planned swimming date, all thanks to stupid Oikawa.  In truth he did want to get back into the water, craved it even, but he knew how he got when the slightest touch of water ran over his toes.  To be honest it was more than a little embarrassing and he’d rather face it alone than to shame himself in front of his friends.  

“Iwa-chan want’s to nap, so sorry but we’ll have to cancel!” Oikawa chirped happily.

“ _Oh_ no!” Hanamaki said as he grabbed Iwaizumi by the arm, “You both are coming!  Even if we have to drag you there ourselves!”

“I mean, we don’t _have_ to go,” Iwaizumi protested weakly.

“See, Iwa-chan doesn’t want to go!” Oikawa pouted.

“Are you scared he’ll one up you?” Matsukawa asked with a snide smirk stretched across his face, “Could it be that you can’t actually swim, Oikawa-san?” He teased.

Oikawa fell to the bait and puffed his chest up, “Of _course_ I can swim!”  Iwaizumi squinted at him suddenly curious.  Sure he could swim with his mermaid tail but Oikawa was smart enough to know that he had to go through with this with legs...right? _Right_?

“You...you _can_ swim? Can’t you?” Iwaizumi asked, eyes darting to Oikawa’s legs.

“Iwa-chan!” Oikawa gasped offended, “I can too swim!”  

“Then I guess you’ll have to show us,” Matsukawa said with a shrug as he grabbed Iwaizumi’s school bag and helped Hanamaki drag the shocked student from his seat on the grass.

“Wait! No!” Iwaizumi protested.  Oikawa harrumphed past him, chest still puffed out and his chin higher than it really needed to be.  

Forty minutes later, he found himself sitting in his swimming trunks on the private beaches where he had first met Oikawa.  Only this time he was on a double date.  A double date where only one of the couples was actually a couple.  Which Iwaizumi had only found out about that morning.

“This day is too much,” Iwaizumi groaned as he let his head fall onto his crossed arms.

“C’mon Iwaizumi!” Hanamaki whooped from where he was digging his toes into the sand by the shore line, “The water is still pretty cool~”

He hadn’t been able to get out a response before Oikawa was throwing himself over Iwaizumi’s stooped shoulders, “Iwa-chan it’s too hot,” he whined pitifully.

“Then get off of me,” Iwaizumi huffed while shrugging his shoulders and sitting up to dislodge the sticky pest, “go get in the water or something.  Apparently it’s cool.”

Oikawa made a nonplussed noise as he buried his nose into the crook of Iwaizumi’s neck prompting a sharp push from the other, “But Iwa-chan this is where you’re supposed to offer to take me for something cold!”

“Get it yourself,” Iwaizumi said indignantly as he pressed the palm of his hand more firmly against Oikawa’s warm shoulder.

“You’d cool down if you just got in the water!” Matsukawa called to Oikawa.

“But then Iwa-chan will be all lonely,” Oikawa sang back, “and we can’t have that.”

“We can,” Iwaizumi said flatly, “I would be happier.”

“Bring him with you,” Matsukawa shrugged before his eyes glinted mischievously, “that is, unless you _can’t_.”   

The challenged glimmer in Oikawa’s eye prompted a sigh from Iwaizumi, he was starting to hate the competitive side of Oikawa that was _clearly_ being exploited.  Mattsun’s sly grin and crinkled eyes told him the other knew exactly what he was doing.  How dare he.  He met Iwaizumi’s narrowed eyes and pinched lips with a casual shrug, then slung an arm around Hanamaki’s waist.  

“Let’s go, Iwa-chan~” Oikawa chirped as he yanked Iwaizumi in a futile attempt to get him on his feet.

“If you’re going to remove my ass from this sand,” Iwaizumi started with a flat look to Oikawa, “then you’re going to have to work for it.”

A sick grin slid across Oikawa’s face and Iwaizumi was left with the sinking feeling that he had only provoked the side of Oikawa that loved challenges, “Of course, Iwa-chan.”

Then, when he was being bodily dragged across the sand he knew that he had in fact made things worse.  Although he did take pride in the sweat that broke out along Oikawa’s brow and the low frustrated grunts he was making as he attempted to drag Iwaizumi across the beach.  Hanamaki and Matsukawa’s choked laughter nearly made a grin stretch across his own face and tempted him to keep up his noodle limbed act—except sand was getting into places where it had _no_ business being and his skin was getting to be irritated at the grating texture.  

“I suppose you’ve suffered enough,” Iwaizumi sighed as he pulled his legs underneath him and rose to a standing position.  

“Oh _sure,_ ” Oikawa huffed his chest expanding and falling quickly with his labored breathing while he tried to flip his sweaty bangs out of his face, “now that I’ve got you three steps away you give up!”

“Well I wouldn’t want you to have the satisfaction of dragging me all the way to your goal.” Iwaizumi shrugged as he brushed sand from his sides and shoulders.  

“Go on then,” Hanamaki encouraged from behind, something close to nervousness bubbling in the shine of his eyes, “dip your feet in.”  

When his eyes met with the water washing over the sand he felt an anxious _swell_ in his gut resurface.  It felt like ages since it had last been this strong and he was reminded of each time that Oikawa had dragged him out of the house to visit a coffee shop or bookstore instead of the ocean front.  He hadn’t realized just how complacent he had become.  As the water rushed up towards him and he instinctively retreated wondering if it was worth the anxiety stuck in his throat to go through this _again_.

With his best friends eyes on his back and Oikawa’s calculating gaze, he found it hard to be reassured that things would be okay.  It just made it more obvious how fucked up they thought he was.  With the rising panic in his chest and the press of the siren’s song moving to the forefront of his thoughts he realized that he was indeed pretty fucked up.  

“Iwa-chan.”

The way that Oikawa called his name was like being guided back into reality.  He hadn’t realized how fast his breathing had become.  Too lost in his own worries, he couldn’t recognize the drag and break of panic in his lungs or the foggy haze his own awareness.  Warm hands slid into his own and while his first reaction was to jerk away from the contact, Oikawa was stubborn and just held him tighter.  

He hated to admit that the touch helped.  Loathed to say that just looking at Oikawa’s shiny eyes made his breath stall into something resembling calm.  More than that, he despised just how utterly _comforted_ he felt by Oikawa’s closeness.  How his hyper awareness of Makki and Mattsun’s shocked reactions and hesitant movements that made him feel so _guilty_ were ebbing away with each circular motion of oikawa’s thumb over his hand. So distracted was he, by the heat of the others hands, that he nearly missed Oikawa’s question.

“Do you even want this?”

A quick, _of course I do_ , had been ready on his lips but it died when he saw the serious glint in the brown glimmer of Oikawa’s eyes.  It had always been his go to answer, something to say to keep him from sinking down into muddled psychosis that echoed in the other men who had survived siren encounters.  Saying he was going back to the ocean to be the fisherman he was always destined to be was his answer, his way to normalcy. To _His life_ , _his father, his mother._  A way to feel like he wasn’t tainted or doomed to insanity with the others on the outskirts of town, where they would be regarded as pitiful souls forever lost to the call of the beast.  A way to feel like he wasn’t...broken.  His ticket to turning back time but….

 _Did_ he even want this?  Really, _really_ want this?  He felt his jaw tremble with the weight of uncertainty on his lips when Oikawa flashed a bright smile at him and squeezed his hands.

“Look, Iwa-chan.  You’re ankle deep already~”

His gaze fell as if being slowly weighted down and it was only after he saw the water rushing over his feet that he felt the coolness of the ocean.  A pressed sob strained his chest and his vision blurred, only clearing when his tears became too heavy and dropped down to the oceans waters.  He was only ankle deep in the saltwater but at the same time it was _overwhelming_. He wasn’t sure how to process it.  Wasn’t sure what to think or do or what to say.  In a panic he looked up to Oikawa a desperate noise left his throat and Oikawa grinned at him.

Another squeeze to his hands.

Even as the sirens song rang in his ears and ordered him to submerge and never surface again he felt relief.  As his hands shook in Oikawa’s and his feet quivered into the sand he still found himself reluctant to move and just like the drag and rush of the tide he found his panic rising and falling in his chest.  

When Oikawa seemed to sense that it was just _too_ much for him, he was being guided into slow backwards steps onto dry sand.  Even though the panic wasn’t quite ebbing away and despite the urge to run back to where he knew it was safe the feeling of cold water over his toes solidified his decision.  

He definitely wanted this.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again I'm so sorry about the delay in this chapter. I'm going to try and get them out a little bit faster!!  
> Part of the mermaids origin was found here: http://www.seathos.org/atargatis-the-first-mermaid/  
> But the rest of it I made up and morphed to suit the needs of this work!
> 
> Give me a follow and feel free to approach with questions, comments, and concerns at http://koi-ink.tumblr.com/  
> My beta at: inspiringanna.tumblr.com/


	6. Revelations and Realizations

His time on land was limited.

It always had been and in truth, Oikawa’s time should be well and done by this point.  He should have left the island the moment he completed his task and revitalized the islands supply of Heart.  Although, Oikawa should have done a lot of things he had no intention of even approaching.  Going back to the sea was something he was beginning to find etched onto that list.  Not like he had a choice though.  Mermaids weren’t made for dry land and if he stayed too long he would dry up.  But...he did have _some_ time left.

Time he was going to use just like this; trying to figure out why one Iwaizumi Hajime was so intriguing to him.  What about this human made him seem so, well _strange_.  Surely it wasn’t the way the sun threw shadows over his features in the morning, yet Oikawa couldn’t help but soak in the details.  The way that not even the slant of light over his eyes could rouse Hajime from his sleep.  Nor how the soft touch of Oikawa’s fingers over his forehead and through his sleep mussed hair could wake him.  

He did this often in the mornings before Hajime woke.  He was always so grumpy when awake but he seemed so soft when sleeping.  His lips, which were normally pressed together in a stressed fueled grumpy line were ever so slightly parted and oddly plump.  His thick eyebrows weren’t pinched together in a worried way nor the usual irritated scrunch, they just were simply...there.  He ran the pad of his thumb over them grinning at how fuzzy they were, how soft.  Hajime’s ears though, they were round and firm and completely off limits.  He wondered if all humans ears were so sensitive to touch that it woke the person from just a simple swipe of the thumb.  Perhaps, it was just his Hajime.

Of course it didn’t matter anyway, the obnoxious contraption that Hajime had deemed as his “cell phone” had an annoying habit of making the awful noise it was currently broadcasting.  The sound of a dying land animal he was certain.  It happened every morning, aside from mornings when Hajime didn’t have classes, and it always robbed them of their sleep.  Or Hajime of his sleep.  Oikawa always seemed to be awake anyway, just observing.  The _cell phone_ seemed to take it personally, interrupting him while he was mapping out the feel of human features to alert the very human of what he could only assume was Oikawa’s actions.  Perhaps it was jealous that Oikawa was able to press hands to Hajime’s face.  Perhaps it was just temperamental.  

He had picked it up, the obsessive yelling grating on his sensitive hearing and causing a ringing in his ear.  Displeased, he ordered it to stop.  Hajime always dealt with it so swiftly, grumbling something as he touched the screen of it and then it shut up before he tossed it to the side.  Except it would go off again just minutes later.  Perhaps the thing resented being thrown? He would not throw it then, maybe faux kindness could win him silence.

“Please shut up,” He said not _un_ kindly to the words he couldn’t read on the screen.

It did not.

“Are you fucking serious?” Hajime’s voice was groggy with sleep as he sat up, cutely rubbing an eye with the back of his hand.  The other was stretched out for the _cell phone_. Oikawa handed it over with a pout as Hajime did his usual grumble and press of the screen.  The silence was instantaneous.  

“How come it listens to you?” Oikawa whined prostrating himself across Iwaizumi’s lap.

“A good subject only listens to its king.”

Shock jolted through his chest and his eyebrows flew upwards in incredulous surprise. He hadn’t known!  Was that the reason for the stares directed at Hajime on the island?  The reason why people seemed so quiet and reserved around him?  Unless of course, it was his team; then they must have been close to him to have such personal relations with him.  How had _he_ of all mermaids missed this?  But then he caught the shaking of of Hajime’s shoulders.  The tremble of his lip, and it dawned on him.

“Iwa-chan!  Did you just….make a _joke?!_ ”  

He was so shocked he startled up to straddle Hajime’s legs and tightly grasp his shoulders.  A joke!  He never thought he’d see the day that this human in particular would make a joke.  Perhaps, Hajime would come around to him yet.  He had, after all, been accepting Oikawa’s help in the ocean for the past few weeks.  They had managed to get him up to his hips!  He was starting to suspect, with shameful pride, that Hajime was beginning to begrudgingly trust him.  A _true_ miracle.

“Shut up, what else was I supposed to say?” Hajime grumbled trying to move backwards, presumably from the intimate proximity of their faces.

“The truth!”  Oikawa whined out while pressing their foreheads together.  Honestly, how could Hajime _not_ understand that?

“Okay, the truth is you’re an idiot,” Hajime said with a sick grin and a push against Oikawa’s face, “you can’t talk _to_ a phone.”

“Mean!” He yelped because it was true and his feelings stung with hurt pride, “You talk to it everyday!”

“I don’t...it’s not...me really talking to it.”

“Iwa-chan says things like ‘ _Stupid phone! Just work right!’_ or ‘ _just ten more minutes, live just ten more minutes’_! So don’t lie!” Oikawa huffed in a pout because he was _there_ each time and Hajime _did_ talk to the phone!  Sometimes it didn’t listen and the screen went black two minutes after they set out for home.  Hajime was quick to put it on a lifeline when they returned and the cheery bright screen came back. Other times it did listen to Hajime’s orders.

“Oh my god...no,” and Hajime sighed and flopped back down onto his sheets, “I just woke up.  I can’t do this.”

“Iwa-chan needs coffee?” Oikawa asked while weaseling his way under the crook of Iwaizumi’s arm and cuddling up next to him, forehead to Iwaizumi’s chin.

He had learned this “coffee” to be the modern version of self-torture.  It was rather...unnervingly enjoyable.  His heart would beat quickly after ingesting the fluid; his mind would race and his limbs shook.  In a way it was like having a reaction to a non-lethal dose of fugu poison that he and his friends often used...outside of the courts watchful eye of course.  It wasn’t exactly common among mermaids of...well...Oikawa’s standing.

“Yeah.”

“I’ll ask auntie!” Oikawa was going to hop right up and do that because he found auntie to be oddly comforting, but Hajime had grabbed his arm—keeping him curled up by Iwaizumi’s side and under the curve of his other arm.

“No, let her sleep.  She won’t be getting up today.”

“Is she sick?” Oikawa asked while wiggling back into place to get comfortable.  He could always go in secretly to give her a little boost of Heart if she wasn’t feeling well.  What Hajime didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him…

“No, it’s just Wednesday, so she sleeps in.”

“Why?  Is Wednesday significant of sleeping in?” Oikawa thought the question to be an innocent one but it appeared that he had made another social blunder.

Hajime had fallen silent.  

Stone cold silent.  His limbs, once lax and warm with groggy sleep, were now rigid with tension.  Then, as Hajime clenched his jaw, he thought it was personal and not social.  There were few things that he had seen Hajime clench his jaw at.  The top one being Heart.  Any mention of it made Hajime uncomfortable, which was strange as most humans were fascinated by it.  The second being his absent father.  Oikawa had only heard him mentioned once by Auntie and it seemed that Hajime hated talking about him.  He thought that maybe Hajime’s dad had been absent for most of Hajime’s life?

“It doesn’t matter,” Oikawa chirped not wanting the day to start rough and he wiggled into a sitting position, “let’s get ready!  We’re going back to the water today right!”

Hajime was still silent, the clenched jaw turned into teeth grinding and small bursts of eye contact before Hajime inevitably looked away.

“Iwa-chan?”  Oikawa wasn’t sure what was acceptable to do here.  Normally he’d coo his way to a friends good graces by a small nuzzle under their chin, where he could rest his head on their chest and provide proper comfort.  Hajime was uncomfortable with such contact when in a mood like this one.  It had taken time for them to be able to be this close and he feared just that extra inch would push Hajime over the edge.   If he were frantic or upset Oikawa might provide a small pinch on his nose, a way of teasing or to lighten the mood and offer a listening ear. Iwaizumi seemed to find this motion annoying as well. Talking, it seemed, was safer, “Do….do you _not_ want to go swim today?”

Oikawa himself was at a confused middle ground with aiding Hajime in his sea life adventures.  The fixation he had noticed with Iwaizumi seemed too intense, too fierce, and he _didn’t_ like that those pills the old one had given him made it worse.  There was just something about the medicine...even the medicine _woman_ seemed...off; despite Hajime’s insistence that the pills helped other things.  It seemed to him that Hajime should be finding other ways to occupy his time and should stay away from fixations on the sea.  Siren songs were disgusting things after all.  Then again, on the other hand he saw how happy Hajime was to be in the water again.  Even though sometimes he ended up breathing funny and losing strength in his legs.  Makki-chan was disturbingly good at talking him out of it and even worse _he_ was allowed to cuddle up to Hajime!  Rude.  

“It’s not that,” Hajime grumbled.  

“It’s fine with me,” Oikawa shrugged, “I get red and itchy being outside without the water anyway!  Feels like I’m drying up but...not?”

“It’s called sunburn idiot and if you didn’t have skin like _paper_ you’d be fine.”  

He didn’t know what paper skin was but it sounded like an insult, “Don’t be mean Iwa-chan!  My skin is the absolute best!  I was voted most radiant—,”

“—Would you shut up so I can just...fucking...tell you this...”

Oikawa fell silent, more out of curiosity than actually abiding by the order.  If Hajime wasn’t going to listen to him then why would Oikawa offer anything different?  Especially when Oikawa was far higher up on the respect scale than a human.  But then...there was the way that Hajime began to _fidget_.  Actually fidget! Thumbs twiddling around the fabric of his night shirt and noncommittal eye contact, fidgeting! His interest skyrocketed tenfold and he settled in.  It was so rare that Hajime shared anything about himself and Oikawa felt like he was about to be treated!  Nearly four weeks of work went into this!  

“I’m listening,” Oikawa said cheerfully, unable to keep his voice neutral. It earned him a sigh and a half formed glare but Hajime did bite his lip before giving in.

“My mom doesn’t get up on Wednesday mornings because it’s the only routine she allows herself to keep from when...when my dad was still here.”

Oikawa kept waiting for the rest of it but it didn’t seem like Hajime was going to continue.  He couldn’t help the small push of his lower lip, he really thought he’d be getting more than that.  Maybe he could push for a little more, “Where is Iwa-chan’s dad?”

All at once Hajime locked up, muscles tensed and mouth a firm pressed line against his skin.  Oikawa didn’t like that look on Hajime, too serious and troubled for a young human.  Human lives were so short after all and they shouldn’t spend so much of their time looking like... _that_.  Not to mention Oikawa wasn’t staying ashore to play therapist or supportive merfriend.  He was here for his own reasons and interests so he shrugged and lied down to be across Hajime’s thighs.

“It doesn’t really matter,” Oikawa sighed, “More importantly what are we doing today, Iwa-chan?  I want to eat something that we haven’t had yet and I want to see what else humans are doing for entertainment these days!”

“Well that sucks,” Hajime said gruffly, “Because I have class.”

“Nooo,” Oikawa whined, “Iwa-chan’s schooling is so _boring_.”

“You’re only saying that because I have my history class today and you don’t like the teacher.”

“Well he’s a _stupid_ bigoted asshole for one and two—,”

“—I don’t actually care,” Hajime sighed, “You go do whatever you want if you don’t want to go. Actually that sounds great, _don’t_ come to class with me.”

Offended, he went with Hajime to class and absolutely _suffered_.  The teacher had moved on from the history of Oikawa’s people and was talking about absolutely nothing and Hajime refused to interact with him during the lecture.  He ended up putting his head down through the whole lecture wishing they were both back at volleyball practice since it had been the one thing he had missed about dry land since the last time he was ashore.  Humans were so strange, restricting themselves like this when they only had a few short years.  

He thought his suffering would end after their evening volleyball when he would finally be free to drag Hajime around his island to find something fun to do, but Makki-chan and Mattsun ended up dragging them back down to the beach.  Although, he did find it cute that they were so excited to share the water with Hajime again, even though he could only go in waist deep for minutes at a time before he was overwhelmed with the siren’s call.

Which was _weird_ because Oikawa had pumped enough of his Heart into Hajime that the siren’s Heart _shouldn’t_ have an effect any longer.  He should have influenced it _out_ and Hajime shouldn’t be dealing with it.  Such a strange boy this human was.  He had started off closed and cold to Oikawa and now here he was, fingers laced in with Oikawa’s and shooting concerned looks his way when he thought Oikawa wasn’t looking.

He knew that humans developed an attachment to beings or even objects that they spent time around but Oikawa never once imagined that the painfully closed off, rude, brutish, and cute Hajime would ever warm up to him.  The other humans weren’t surprising.  Predictable even, and while Hajime had some predictable attributes there were some things that even Oikawa could never see coming.  

Like now, how he was staring with concerned brown eyes into Oikawa’s face, chin tilted up just a hair so he could adjust for their difference in height.  How he reached up with the hand that wasn’t laced with Oikawa’s to pinch his chin between them.  How his brow furrowed in confusion at whatever he found lurking in Oikawa’s expression.

“Iwa-chan~ If you wanted a kiss all you had to do was ask~”  Oikawa teased expecting a sharp retort and possible physical violence. What he got was an embarrassingly cute flush over Hajime’s cheeks and nose before he jerked his hand back and avoided eye contact, stammering out a denial.  It was too cute and Oikawa found his chest constricting with the revelation, “Oh? So Iwa-chan _can_ be cute after all!”  

“Shut up!”  The red on Hajime’s face spread down to his neck, “I’m _not_ cute!”

“You are too!  Besides you _should_ let him kiss you,” Makki-chan teased with a quick waggle of his eyebrows, “It’s what you were going for anyway, right!”

“It’s not!”  Hajime snapped defensively and Oikawa watched in amusement as the blush lowered to his chest.  Cute, “I just thought it was _weird_ that he had been quiet for so long!”

Oikawa grinned, an unexpected bubble of happiness bursting in his chest, “Aww, was Iwa-chan worried about me?” He draped himself over Hajime’s shoulders and nuzzled his face under the boy’s chin, unable to resist his own customs despite Hajime trying to push him away.

“No—well _yes_ but—,” At Mattsun and Makki’s loud scandalized exclamation Hajime huffed out a sigh and shook Oikawa off of him, “Let’s just get in the damn water, yeah?”

This is what Oikawa meant when he said that Hajime was predictable yet a complete mystery to Oikawa.  He had thought the human would rejoice the day when Oikawa would go back to the ocean—he was under no delusions that he could run away for forever—but he never thought he’d see the day that hard hearted Hajime would blush because of _him_.  Never thought he would show concern or even tolerate touching him when just a month ago he didn’t even want to be in the same space as him.  

“ _Are_ you okay?” Hajime asked him while Makki and Mattsun left, hand in hand to the water's edge.

“Is the world ending?” Oikawa asked, dramatically pressing his forearm over his eyes and bending to lean back on Hajime, “Iwa-chan, is _worried_? For _me_?!”

“Forget I asked!” Hajime snapped, embarrassment coating his tone as he turned on his heel.  

Oikawa flipped around and wrapped his arms around Hajime’s waist, keeping him in place, “I’m okay,” he offered quietly while impeding Hajime’s attempts at prying him off, “the sun is just very hot.”

“...Get in the water, idiot.”

Hajime was always the most hesitant before getting his feet wet.  He thought maybe to another human it just seemed as if Hajime was getting used to the temperature or simply having fun with the moving water.  Oikawa could see the hesitance, the fear in the downturned corners of his lips, the oppressive press of memories and unbidden taunts of Sirens and the water they lived in.  He knew Hajime’s friends could see it as well but even the privileged Makki wasn’t able to touch and lead Hajime into the water without a jerky reaction.  No the only one able to get him in smoothly was Oikawa.  If it was because he cheated and used a near undetectable amount of influential Heart through their joined hands, well he wouldn’t admit to it.

For as much as Hajime rejected and spoke against touch and any sort of physical affection, he sure was receptive to it. His muscles were tense with anxiety but when Oikawa slid his hand down Hajime’s arm and grasped his hand some of that tension released and he clung back.  It was cute.  In a codependent sort of way that Oikawa had first thought Hajime not to be capable of with anyone other than his own mother.

“C’mon, Iwa-chan, I’ve got you.”

When Hajime responded with a terse, “Shut up, idiot,” he had expected it, but he also expected the released tension in his shoulders and the way his breath would catch out of his lungs in a relieved _whoosh_.  Oikawa always entered in the water backwards, letting Hajime see everything that he wanted, sometimes he would only stare in Oikawa’s eyes—lips pressed together in a wobbly attempt to look normal but his scrunched up nose and red tipped ears always gave him away.

What he didn’t expect was for his own body to shudder violently at the touch of the cool sea water and for his head to spin.  He had been out for far too long now.  He probably only had a few days left in him before he had to return to the sea for so much needed recuperation.  HIs body was protesting, wanting him to grow his tail and more importantly his gills back _now_.  Fighting it took the strength he needed to keep Hajime strong.  Strength he had to use to keep his heart flow constant and unnoticed.  

When he stumbled and the flow stopped, he expected Hajime to freeze up, for his muscles to clench tight until he forced himself out of the water.  Or flopped down into it face first.  Except, neither of those happened and sweet, sweet Hajime surprised him again by rushing forward and stabilizing him with a thick arm around his waist and his other hand tight around Oikawa’s elbow.  

“What happened? Are you okay?”  Hajime’s eyes and squeezed eyebrows  were concerned, another surprise.     

“Sorry Iwa-chan!” His own smile felt forced and painful—despite the practiced ease through which it came.  Hajime’s frown deepened and Oikawa scrambled for a recovery, “I lost my footing!  Don’t step here there’s a dune, okay!”

He saw Hajime’s eyes flicker down, doubt and disbelief shading them over as he narrowed his eyes at Oikawa.  He shifted his weight evenly across his feet, sliding his hands around Hajime’s hips in an effort to distract him from trying to unravel every single one of Oikawa’s secrets.  Hajime could be surprisingly perceptive.

“Unless, of course, you _wanted_ to stay close like this.”  He threw in a suggestive wink and grinned at the sound of Makki-chan and Mattsun’s cat calls. A steady chant of _kiss kiss kiss kiss_ effectively made Hajime lose his train of thought and he turned, beet red, to the duo to tell them off while removing Oikawa’s arms from his hips.  He noted that Hajime still kept a firm hold on his elbow, then took the lead moving them into slightly deeper waters.

Another surprise.  He wasn’t supplying Heart to keep that pesky Siren song at bay, this was all Hajime.  Was the Heart in Hajime finally acting as a buffer?  Was Hajime just some monstrous being that required _insane_ levels of Heart before it started to become effective?  If that was the case just how much of the Siren’s nasty Heart was floating around in his human?

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“My, my Iwa-chan, you better be careful!  If I didn’t know any better I’d say you were actually concerned for me!”

Hajime was quiet, contemplative before his shoulders jerked up in a small shrug and he steadily met Oikawa’s eye, “So what if I was?”

He was nearly driven speechless!  Of all the curveballs he expected this one had not even computed in his mind, “I’d call you a liar, Iwa-chan.”

Hajime only hummed but Oikawa noticed his eye on him the whole time they were together.  He also noticed that Hajime didn’t require nearly as much time adjusting to the water as he had before and this time was without Oikawa’s helpful Heart!  He was almost offended—no he _was_ offended!  How _dare_ Hajime dismiss his Heart like that!  Oikawa had the best manipulation and influential talents there were and Hajime’s subconscious just _shrugged_ him off like he was _nothing_.  Like it was easier to function without him?  He found himself pouting profusely, unable to hold back his expression.

“So like, is this how you guys flirt?” Makki-chan asked, an amused grin split across his face.

“Of course!” Oikawa shot back sternly, “Do you really think my Iwa-chan would accept anything else?”

“He makes a good point,” Mattsun shrugged.  

He cut off any reply Makki-chan could make by swiping his leg out with a devilish grin and taking Makki-chan’s feet out from under him. Makki went down in a flail of limbs and a rather high pitched shout—one of his arms slapping Mattsun across the face with a wet sound.  How they ended up lying in the shallow water in the midst of a makeout session was too difficult for even Oikawa to comprehend.

So instead he ran with it, thinking that perhaps he could even have a little fun messing with Hajime. He leaned onto Hajime’s chest, one hand pressed firmly against his pectoral muscle, and he puckered his lips in a bad rendition of a kissing motion, “Me too Iwa-chan~ Don’t you wanna taste~”    

He was rudely answered with a disgusted scoff and a roll of those pretty hazel eyes.  Hajime started as if he were going to shove Oikawa off of him before the movement was aborted mid-motion and he was gently pushing past Oikawa and went further into the water, the supportive hand still on his hip guiding Oikawa with him.  Oikawa fought the instinctive curl of his lip; interesting...

“Don’t push it,” Hajime grumbled as he slipped his hand away from Oikawa’s hip, cautious, before lacing their fingers together; and...wasn’t that odd?

“You’re awfully affectionate today Iwa-chan,” he couldn’t help but tease with eyes purposefully slanted in suspicion but his other features held skillfully impassive with years of practice.  Silence was his answer as they waded deeper into the ocean’s current.  Oikawa huffed out a disappointed sigh as his mind churned away, determined to get back at the other for ignoring him.  

He was only seconds away from draping himself over Hajime’s arm but stopped when he noticed the slightest trembling from the hand that was now clenching his own. Closer observation revealed a clenched jaw, fixed eyesight, and stiff legs.  

Really, his Hajime could be so cute.

“Iwa-chan,” Oikawa chirped trying to pierce that annoying bubble Hajime had shoved himself into, “tell me a story?”

“What? No.”

A complete shutdown.

“Why not?” Oikawa whined, not one to accept defeat.

“I’ve already told you plenty.”

“But that was _last_ week.”

“...Why don’t you tell _me_ something?”

A complete surprise.

“Oh?  Iwa-chan actually wants to know about me?”

“You’re kind of an enigma.”

Oikawa scoffed, “Like you’re one to talk.”

Hajime’s quizzical look was only further proof of his own blindsighted ignorance in regard to his own actions. Tragic really, that a human as interesting as his Hajime could be so dense about their own self. Someone whom Oikawa had been living with for nearly the past month but still could only list a handful of things that described him. Things like, Hajime was damn near sacrificial when it came to doing things for his mother.  He didn’t talk about his father.  He liked agedashi tofu and he liked volleyball.  Disliked being affectionate. Disliked sharing. Disliked Oikawa...no. Tolerated Oikawa. Slow to warm to Oikawa? An enigma.

“Iwa-chan doesn’t share anything about himself,” Oikawa whined.

“Uh-oh, sounds like relationship problems!” Makki-chan interrupted loudly from where he was pressed into the sand, wet kisses dotted over his face.

“Shut up, Takahiro,” Mattsun countered before Hajime could pipe up, “stop meddling.”

“I’m not meddling!” Makki-chan pouted.  

Those two, Oikawa decided, were much easier to read.  Far simpler to get information out of.  They decidedly _liked_ Oikawa.  Enough to share their personal opinions, interests, and dislikes.  Far less of an enigma.  Far more _human_ seeming.

“I share…” Hajime sounded confused but when Oikawa looked, his brow was furrowed and his shiny gaze concentrated on their connected hands.

“Hardly,” Oikawa scoffed.

“I told you about my dad.”

It was only then that Oikawa was able to recognize the look for what it was.  Hajime was hurt.  He would need to choose his next words carefully because contrary to what Hajime thought he actually _hadn’t_ shared anything about his father with him. He remained another enigma.  

“Iwa-chan…” he sighed hopelessly, “I don’t think saying that your mom and dad used to sleep in on Wednesday’s counts. I still have a _bunch_ of questions!”  He ended with a pout that was bound to make his words seem less sharp and far more needy than he actually felt but...he _was_ curious.

“I—You…” Hajime fell silent and Oikawa could practically hear the gears in his head turning, trying to find any sort of place where he might have let another sliver of information slip by in their conversation.  The sour look on his face almost looked painful.  Oikawa decided to give him a break, he’s a generous mermaid after all.  

“Aww, does this mean Iwa-chan has been trying to tell me more?”  Oikawa gushed before sliding his arms around Hajime’s waist and pressing his cheek against the warm skin of his shoulder, “That’s so _sweet_!”

“Shut up!”  Hajime hissed, his hands prying away at Oikawa’s arms trying to get him to back off but Oikawa wasn’t having it.  Besides, Hajime was starting to look a little more stressed and a lot more pale, so he wanted more skin contact to sneakily slip some more of his Heart through.  It seemed to work because Hajime just huffed out a put off sigh and let him be.   

They remained standing long enough for the duo behind them to grow bored enough to start their own devious water fight.  Which Oikawa thought for a moment might end in manslaughter but Mattsun let Makki-chan up for air just in time.  When the sun became too warm on his skin, which was starting to redden and hurt, he turned to his face to Hajime and pulled against him to guide him backwards.  

“Done already?” Hajime’s tone seemed flat and absent, just as the blank stare he held towards the horizon.  Pressed against him as he was, Oikawa could feel his heartbeat sluggish in his chest compared to the normal heavy beating it had when Hajime was in the water.  It was almost as if Hajime were at peace...or in a drugged state due to too much Heart.  It was impossible to tell really.

“No…” Oikawa sighed, breath ghosting back in his sticky face as it fanned across Hajime’s sunbathed skin, “Just thought we should try sitting in the water...chest deep sound do-able?”

Hajime was silent for a while.  To the point that Oikawa thought maybe he _was_ in a drugged state and his question had been bouncing around in Hajime’s head with him left unable to process what each word meant.  Then maybe he thought that he hadn’t spoken the words correctly at all and his grasp on the human language was far more sub par than he had ever imagined.  Until Hajime smiled, soft and warm.

“Yeah...that sounds nice.”  

“...Okay…”

It was almost like a switch had been flipped and Oikawa wasn’t entirely certain how to handle this compliant soft Hajime. Everything could go horribly at any second if Hajime suddenly came out of this funk...or it had the chance of going smoothly and he could actually get some relief in the water...maybe discreetly let his gills out...no.  He glanced at Mattsun and Makki who did a really good job of _pretending_ like they weren’t paying attention and were instead involved fully in their own antics, but Oikawa knew those looks.  Those side glances and occasional pauses in activity.  They were very tuned in with them.  He couldn’t get away with something so abnormal with them around.  Besides, he wasn’t sure he would be able to stop once he started; he had been out of the ocean for _too_ long.

“Let’s sit here, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa said feeling that Hajime’s soft edges and compliant attitude were becoming contagious and that he had already caught it.  He felt sleepy and fogged over as they lowered themselves into a sitting position, hands still twined together beneath the waves and pressing into the sand.  Hajime’s pulse did pick up to its normal heavy beat and his breath quickened but his muscles stayed fairly lax.  Vaguely he wondered if Hajime felt this foggy every time he took those disgusting pills that mamaw had given him.  He wondered if maybe they actually helped to clear it.   

Then it occurred to him...he hadn’t seen Hajime take a pill today, had he?  He thought back to the morning and not once did he remember Hajime taking a pill.  Perhaps he had missed it then, “Iwa-chan?  Did you take that medicine today?” He asked softly, thumb gently running over the back of Hajime’s hand.

“Mm, no,” Iwaizumi answered quietly, “I just...recently taking the medicine has been...weird?  I know know...I just—I don’t feel right, it anymore.  I feel like...I’m committing some horrible act of treason?”  He shrugged as if he wasn’t sure how to finish the sentence.  

Privately, he held a strong sense of satisfaction in the fact that Hajime wasn’t taking the gross pills. They felt so off he was actually relieved to hear that Hajime wasn’t taking them.  He wondered if that made him a bad person, for being glad that a medication that was supposed to help Hajime was being cast aside. Probably, but he had been called worse for far less.

“Shut up,” Hajime grumbled at him, “Don’t get so happy about it.  I really should be taking them.”

“What…” Oikawa frowned positive that he hadn’t actually said anything to indicate his opinion.  Hajime just threw him a _look_.

It was only then that he realized the reason for his hazed thoughts and tired motions was because, in his exhausted and sea water deprived state, he was still pushing Heart into Hajime and could no longer fully control his ability to separate himself from the human next to him.  They were blending together in a mix of emotions and their physical and mental states merging together to form some sort of new blazed out sense of being that only came with being as exhausted as Oikawa was with the mental stress that Hajime was under.  Meaning that Hajime didn’t have to hear him speak his feelings, he could just feel them as Oikawa did.  And Vise versa.

He couldn’t stop the small laugh that left him at this realization.  If only his friends back home could see him.  They would be shocked.

“What’s so funny?” Hajime’s question seemed to float in the air around them before he could grasp it and comprehend it’s meaning.

“If we were in my home, everyone would think we were mated,” Oikawa laughed. Sharing such a close sense of consciousness was seen as something so private and intimate that only mated pairs dared to do it.  He had seen a few instances of very close childhood friends depending on each other in such a way but for most, such an act was far too intimate.  A very loose and detached part of him demanded that he stop the Heart sharing; at least until he was better rested.  Until he had recovered in sea water from his month of deprivation.  

“Do mer-er-your people not share physical space?” Hajime asked quietly as he eyed Mattsun and Makki draping themselves over each other.  They seemed the exact opposite from them at the moment.  Makki and Mattsun were loud and full of exuberant laughter snide remarks and inside jokes passing from their lips at lightning speed.  They were playful in the water whereas Oikawa felt like it would just be easier to lie back and let the water rush over his face.

“Of course we do!” Oikawa huffed offended, “More-so than humans.  I just meant something else.”  

“Which is?”

“...” Oikawa stopped his flow of Heart to Hajime.  It wouldn’t be well received.  Hajime had made it clear on several occasions that he found Oikawa’s Heart to be grotesque and disturbing.  Admitting to using it for the past few weeks would just cause him a hurt that he didn’t want to experience again.  He knew Hajime would demand an answer but oddly seemed to respect certain boundaries so he settled the matter with, “It’s personal.”

“I see.”  Sure enough, Hajime let the conversation drop and curiously enough, Oikawa began to notice that despite him pulling back his Heart and no longer allowing it to flow between them, it wasn’t listening to his commands.  It was almost as if it were being pulled and suctioned right out of his very being.  It was extremely faint and if he hadn’t of been trying to cinch it off, he doubted he ever would have noticed.  Even more interesting, was the fact that he thought it was coming from Iwaizumi.  An impossible feat since humans shouldn’t be able to manipulate Heart in the slightest.

“I...I’m not...saying this just to make you feel like you have to share something personal too,” Hajime started piquing Oikawa’s interest and waving away some of that foggy haze that had settled over his brain, “but...uh...about my dad.”

Was this really happening?  What did Oikawa do to deserve such a blessed opportunity such as this?  As Hajime sharing his _life_!  He instantly disregarded the strange Heart pulling from Hajime, too interested in what he was about to learn.

“He was a fisherman.”

Oikawa’s hope was crushed in a single instant and he felt the Pout™ come over his face before he could stop it, “Iwa-chan is so crafty, getting my hopes up like that.  Even I could have figured that out!”

“Shut up,” Hajime huffed in his usual annoyed manner.  Except, was it just Oikawa or had it started to sound more affectionate in his ears?  He was probably still fuzzy after being connected so deeply with Hajime...something he was sure he’d feel shameful over later.  Someone of his stature...connecting with a human? If only his mother could see him now...she’d probably suffer a heart attack...or shock.  

“Ahh I’m so disappointed,” Oikawa whined, rubbing his nose on Hajime’s shoulder.

“Shut up Kusokawa, I’m not even finished!”

He felt like an idiot for perking up so quickly but how could he _not_?

“Do go on,” Oikawa encouraged.

“He taught me everything I know about fishing...living.  We used to go on voyages together, never just the two of us we had to provide for mom and getting that much fish means you need a team.  Well then of course if you have a team you have to get enough to support them and their families too.  So we’d be gone for months.  Coming home was always a good treat.  To be able to see my mom and just be a family was...I took it for granted.”

Hajime’s face looked twisted and pained and Oikawa couldn’t help himself, couldn’t ignore his own customs when someone was so clearly hurting in front of him and even though he knew Hajime wouldn’t react positively to a mermaids form of comfort, he still found himself nuzzling his head under Hajime’s chin and pressing a warm burst of Heart against his skin.  It wasn’t supposed to be absorbed in this instance, it was _supposed_ to be released into the water in significance of a bad feeling bursting and drifting away with the current.  Of course porous humans just had to take in every little bit of Heart they could so it quickly disappeared beneath the surface of Hajime’s skin.  He was expecting to be yelled at or pushed away but Hajime just awkwardly cleared his throat and shifted as if he were going to put an arm around Oikawa’s shoulders but couldn’t quite bring himself to do so.  It was almost as if Hajime thought Oikawa was the one who needed comforting.

The thought made him snicker, “Iwa-chan is really awkward,” Oikawa grinned as he sat back up and curled his ankle around Hajime’s.   

“What?! I’m not the one who—” He sighed and pinched the space between his eyes like he did during a test that he had only half studied for, “whatever...do you want me to tell you this? Because I can stop at any time.”

“Nooo! I’ll be good!” Oikawa promised before sitting up straight and adopting a look of concentration on his face.   He thought he saw a quiver of a smile in the corner of Hajime’s lips but there was no trace of it after he had blinked.  

“He didn’t leave us...not really,” Hajime continued after a moment, the mood around them sombering a bit.  Oikawa was keenly awarey of Hajime being overly aware that Makki and Mattsun were listening and wondered if he should scare them off with one of his particularly vicious glares but Hajime merely squeezed his hand and gave the smallest shake of his head.  So Oikawa left it at that while Hajime continued, “After...after I was attacked... _we_ were attacked he managed to get us and some of the crew back safely.  A lot of them didn’t make it..they’re probably in the belly of some...Siren right now.”

Oikawa didn’t think it’d be helpful to mention that the likelihood they were now Sirens working for the main family that had turned them, or even quite possibly spending their time as mere bones on the shelves of a Siren’s collection platter, so he just hummed quietly, signaling his listening ear.

“My dad...changed after he got me home...I mean how couldn’t he of? _I_ had changed.  I don’t think there wasn’t a second I wasn’t trying to jump back in the water to just let myself die.  My mom couldn’t leave me for _months_.  I mean...I was _hospitalized_ you can’t just...you can’t just stay the same? Right?” Hajime was pleading with him.  Not in his features, which were tense with forced neutrality, but in his watery eyes and clenched hands; in the shaking of his words.  It was only then that Oikawa realized just how deeply affected this human was by a Siren song.  It had to of been a strong Siren...he only knew a handful of beasts that could manipulate someone this strongly…

“No, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa agreed softly, “You can’t.”

“He left...while I was in the hospital,” Hajime admitted softly, “Told my mom that he was going to get revenge on the abomination that had done this to me. Then he just...packed up and left.  He hasn’t been back since...and he hasn’t contacted us at all.  Everyone says he died but...I _know_ him.  He’s stronger than that.  Stronger than me.”

“No one can be stronger than Iwa-chan,” Oikawa teased, “You still have the reigning champion sash for all of those hard won arm wrestling matches.”

Hajime stuttered out a dry laugh, “You know what I mean.”

“No! no!” Oikawa said sternly while childishly throwing his head to the side as if the mere action alone could prevent Hajime’s words from sticking in his mind, “It’s a fact!  Makki-chan told me so.  No one else can be as strong as the reigning champ until they take his sash.”

He had hoped to dissolve some of the tension in the air but he hadn’t thought this tactic to work so well that it made Hajime burst into laughter.  Bending until his face was close to the motion of the water while he clenched his hands at his belly.  Yet there he was, breathless— _fearless_ — with laughter and tears in his eyes.  

He was _beautiful_.

“Hanamaki failed his _participation_ quiz yesterday and you’re going to believe _him_?”  Hajime snorted out, “Unbelievable.”

“Hey!  I’ll have you know that all of my answers would have been correct!”  Makki protested.

“Had they of been on the correct lines…” Mattsun snickered from behind his hand, laughing louder when Makki’s slap left a bright red mark on his wet skin.

“You guys are _horrible_ ,” Makki moaned before a wicked grin split his lips, “the payback will be grand.”

“Makki-chan! No!” Oikawa cried out as Makki dragged an arm over the surface of the water, sending a precisely aimed wall of water over his and Iwaizumi’s heads, “My hair!” Oikawa bemoaned the loss of his perfectly sculpted curls, shivers rattling his spine as he fought the urge to just fall over completely into the water.

A hissed “ _Shit_ ,” from Makki brought him back to his own senses and his heart sunk when he realized that Hajime, sweet Hajime who, had only just been able to get chest level in the water, had also been drenched in the attack was stiff next to him.

“Iwa-chan,” Oikawa sputtered, trying to get his sopping bangs out of his face while simultaneously trying to make sure that Hajime wouldn’t do anything reckless, “It’s okay.”  

Hajime’s gaze slid over to him, looking blank and nearly absent before a timid grin quirked at the corner of his mouth, “You’re going to pay for that one. Takahiro.”

He was certain that the look was supposed to be intimidating.  He had seen it set on the others face more than a few times.  A cocky grin and hard set eyes glinting in the light of the volleyball court had made more than one member of the team hesitate on a block, a follow, even spikes.  Yet in this instance, with his shaking hands and pallor, it seemed to be a mocking grimace etched onto his face by an artist unfamiliar with the specific contours of Hajime’s cheeks.

There was a small moment, a mere hesitation, between them where Makki-chan was caught between an apology and accepting the challenge.  Truly just a few scant seconds but they seemed to hang heavy in the air, weighing down any light-hearted tone that Hajime was trying to go for.  Mattsun seemed as if he were trying to come to a decision on how to best remove each person from the situation and Oikawa himself was trying to determine exactly how many more seconds it would take for Hajime to break down completely.  

Except it never happened and Hajime was the one to make the decision for him when he brought his thick forearm down with force over the surface of the water, sending huge waves over Oikawa’s head and into the faces of his friends. Another moment of suspense hung in the air as they tried to process exactly what had occurred.  Oikawa was spitting water from his mouth and trying to push his bangs out of his eyes for the second time when Makki-chan and Mattsun’s laughter filled the air and they began splashing back at Hajime in earnest.  

“You going to make me fight them alone? Oikawa?”

He turned to glare at Hajime, ready to tell him that yes, in fact, he _was_ going to make him do it alone in retribution for ruining his hair.  The words died in his throat when he got a look at Hajime’s face.  The pure unashamed radiance in his smile, the determined glint in his eye, and his actions unyielded in the water all took his breath away.  It was as if the sun existed only to illuminate this one human and bring light to his life.  As if it were there to make only him shine so all eyes would focus on just him. He thought that maybe this is what other mermaids meant when they said there was a beauty to humans; an untouchable radiance that demanded the attention of all.

“Of course not, Iwa-chan,” he ended up answering, breathlessly.  

Then it was a full on battle, Mattsun sneaking around to get behind Oikawa and managing to dunk him under from behind while Makki took on Hajime.  Oikawa flipped to curl his leg around one of Mattsun’s and pulled _hard_ , bringing him down with a wall of water that covered Makki as well.  He had just broke the surface to drag in a breath to his completely human lungs when Mattsun pulled him back down by the arms and he went under a wave before being allowed to pop back up.  His hair was completely ruined at this point and there was no way he would be able to fix it without proper tools.  So with a grin splitting his face he wrapped his arms around Mattsun’s body and hugged his arms down to his sides before pulling them both under water.  

They were only down a moment before strong arms were jammed underneath his own and he was hauled up, forced to release his prey.  If he hadn’t of been forcibly removed from the water, and pulled almost completely out of it, Oikawa never would have thought Makki to be as physically capable as he was.  In the end, Makki had curled his arms underneath Oikawa’s before bringing his hands up to lock behind his ruined curls, rendering his arms useless.  

“How cruel of you, Oikawa-san,” Makki hissed into his ear while Mattsun sputtered to the surface, “playing dirty like that.”

“Whatever it takes to win,” Oikawa sneered.

Makki’s response, whatever it may have been, was cut off before it ever began by Hajime tackling them from the side, Mattsun not yet recovered enough to stop the attack before it could be completed went down with a mighty splash.  Makki released his arms, falling into the water, unbalanced, while Oikawa somehow managed to turn mid fall.  His mind still present enough to know that while Hajime could handle a little splashing about, he wouldn’t be able to keep his mentality if his head went under.  He was barely able to take the full fall while supporting Hajime’s weight above him enough to keep him over the surface of the water, waves only splashing on his chest and shoulders.  

They had ended up in a straddle, with his hands against Hajime’s shoulders and Hajime’s knees digging into his hips on either side.  His hands sunk into the sand by both sides of Oikawa’s submerged face.  The contact kept brief by Hajime’s realization that Oikawa was underwater and not in the proper company to let his gills take over for breathing.  He felt surprisingly human and startlingly vulnerable.

Then Hajime was off of him and pulling his weight up into a sitting position so he could cough and sputter sea water from his mouth and yet again brush his drenched hair from his face.  He supposed he could sport the slicked back hair look for a the rest of the day as it seemed he was left with no other option at this point.  His poor hair, waterlogged and void of product.  

“Sorry,” Hajime laughed unable to keep the mirth from his voice, “are you okay?”

Struck by the beauty of the sound, he could only answer with a disturbingly meek, “ _Yeah_.”

“We should dry off,” Mattsun said, helping Makki stand before brushing his boyfriend’s hair back with a very slight smile.

“It’ll be dark soon,” Makki added, his grin stretched from ear to ear before he shook his head, spraying Mattsun with a shower of seawater.

“Wouldn’t want the kiddies to miss their curfew,” Oikawa teased, earning a snort of amusement from Iwaizumi as they trudged out of the sea, hand in hand.

“Oh haha,” Makki sneered, “like you even take your role as senpai seriously.”

Sin Pie?

He didn’t know this word.  One of the many human concepts or phrases that hadn’t been grasped by his people perhaps?  He hadn’t been taught of this.  The word seemed to bounce around in his head and he scrambled for a response that sounded as if he knew what he were talking about.  

“Excuse you Makki-chan, but I take all of my roles seriously.”

Did it have something to do with him being a supposed castaway?  A new student at the school?  If that were the case why didn’t they say something a month ago? Why were humans so confusing?

“Of course you do,” Makki snorted with a mock bow towards him, “My sincerest apologies, _your highness_.”

It only took those two words for Oikawa’s blood to run cold.  Three syllables to make him freeze and lock up, his breath stuttering in his chest and his grip on Hajime’s hand to subconsciously tighten.  He barely filtered the strange look Hajime was giving him.

“ _Don’t call me that,_ ” he spat venomously.  He knew it was uncalled for.  Knew by the shocked look on Makki’s face that he hadn’t expected his teasing to earn this sort of response.  Mattsuns raised eyebrow and arm, drawn tight around Makki’s waist, proved that he _looked_ as bad as he sounded. A hand fisted at his side and eyes cold as the deep sea.  He only hoped they didn’t reflect the fear he felt in his gut. The fear that choked the rest of his words and closed his throat tight.  

“Hey,” Hajime’s voice sounded to his right and his whole body jerked in response to it.  He flipped to the side, tongue at the ready to carve deep wounded words into Hajime’s very being.  Full fight or flight activated and Oikawa never did know how to fly, “whatever’s got you so worked up, shove it.  Don’t be an ass.”

The words should have been harsher.  Should have cut through his very core and melted him down with hot rage.  If any _mermaid_ had said it he’s sure that’s exactly what it would have done but when Hajime said those words with drawn eyebrows, pinched with worry and eyes that shone back concern?  How could he bristle to the soft rounded edges of his speech?  He could only stand helpless and confused as his anger simmered and the icy fear in his being filled him to the brim.  

How could they _know_?  These humans…

“I,” Oikawa started his voice only shaking slightly, “am _not_ an ass.”

Hajime snorted in disbelief,” Yeah sure, whatever you say Bakagawa.”

He didn’t miss the curious glance from Hajime as he led him further onto the beach.  He didn’t pursue it only raised his chin to be higher and he pressed his lips together while he was pulled past Makki and Mattsun.  Anything to hide the way his heart was racing.  Anything to hide his fear.  He didn’t miss the look Makki and Mattsun shared.  They couldn’t possibly know.

“Iwa-chan—”

“If the next words out of your mouth aren’t an apology to Hanamaki then I don’t wanna hear it.”

“...”

Of course Hajime would make this more difficult than it needed to be.  Of course he would make Oikawa shame himself before he could move on.  He frowned, uncomfortable and unwilling.  He turned back to give what he knew would come off as a half assed apology when he saw a head of spiky black hair poke out of the water by the pier behind them all.  At first he simply thought his mind was playing tricks on him but then he saw that _shit_ -eating grin and knew he was fucked.

He realized just how the situation must seem to that familiar figure.  Oikawa no doubt looked exhausted, he saw it everyday in the mirror, seawater deprivation to the gills did that to a mermaid.  He was surrounded by humans—physically _capable_ looking humans—and his own hand caught in the folds of Hajime’s fingers. If he didn’t detach now, nothing would end well. Or quietly for that matter. Since his mythical existence was a pretty huge secret, he sort of needed that quiet, and his friend was never one to keep things quiet.  He’d sooner storm the beach, tail and gills intact, than to let Oikawa waltz away from him.

“I just need a minute to cool down!  Don’t wait up! Just do your thing and don’t—don’t follow me!” Oikawa blurted out, “Don’t even _look_ at me!  I’ll know!”  

“What are you going on about?” Hajime asked, his head starting to turn.  Oikawa pulled his hand from Hajime’s to turn his head back forward.  He then pressed himself closely to Hajime’s back so he could speak under his breath while still being heard by this one man.

“There’s a mermaid in the water.  I need to take care of this.”

“Are you fucking serious?”

“Yes.”

“...I’ll cover...but don’t you fucking _dare_ bring them to my house.”

“I wouldn’t dream of sharing my precious Iwa-chan,” Oikawa teased before turning on his heel and bolting towards the ocean.  

He could hear Hajime keeping his teammates focus forward instead of towards Oikawa and while he was thankful, he didn’t trust those hooligans to obey Hajime.  So he ran full speed off the dock and dived straight into his friends started face, knocking them both down and under the water.  The impact hurt but it was successful.  Even if the devil duo were to turn around, at this point they would see nothing as Oikawa was guiding his friend to the underside of the pier.  A place where humans tended to stay away from as it posed dangers to them.  Without his tail as a support, he found that they probably had the right idea.  

“What the _fuck_ Tooru?!”  His friend complained, hands pressed against his nose where Oikawa’s elbow had hit him, “I swear to _god_ if you’ve made me bleed and I end up attracting a shark _you’re_ dealing with telling it to go the fuck home.”

“Shut. _Up_ Tetsu-chan,” Oikawa hissed.

“Chan? You’ve never called me chan before…”

“Don’t get so distracted,” Oikawa sighed while eyeing his messy black haired friend, “besides it’s cute isn’t it?  Give me a hand would you, it’s hard to swim with these...legs…”

“Or you could just, I dunno, form your tail back? You look like shit.”  Kuroo sounded put off but Oikawa knew him well enough to read the concern in the lines of his face.  

“You take that back!” Oikawa hissed while accepting Kuroo’s arm around his waist and in turn resting one of his around Kuroo’s shoulders, then added in a smaller voice a quiet, “Thanks.”  He then picked at his hair trying to make it resemble something less akin to shit.

“What’s going on? You’ve been gone for almost a month and it doesn’t look like you’ve let your gills breathe at all in that time.  You’ll die, Tooru.  Are the humans holding you on the island?  Were you not able to complete your mission?” Kuroo asked his powerful red and black tail easily keeping them above the rough currents caused by the pier.  

“Stop asking me questions,” Oikawa groaned feeling his mental exhaustion pile on top of the physical exhaustion, “what are you doing here?”

“Tooru, seriously?” Kuroo asked incredulously.  He adjusted his grip around Tooru’s waist, ensuring his head never dropped below the water, “You’ve been gone two times longer than you normally would be.  No one has heard anything from you, some people think you’re _dead_.  Your mother is beside herself right now; it’s taking everything for the king to convince her to stay home.  If I hadn’t of offered to come out here she would have left and you _know_ how dangerous the ocean is right now.  Some people are saying you’ve been captured as a POW.”

“Fancy human term you picked up there, Tetsu-chan,” Oikawa teased tiredly.   

He didn’t want to go home.

“Would you take this seriously?!” Kuroo snapped, “For once in your life Tooru.  Just...take _this_ seriously.”

“You already know my opinion on the political situation we have Tetsu-chan,” Oikawa protested, his head flopping over onto Kuroo’s shoulder, “You knew I would take any opportunity to get away.  Why did you really come here? It was a lot of work to convince everyone to let me come here alone, you know.”

“...You haven’t been yourself lately, you know.”

“Yeah,” Oikawa admitted quietly.  He was pretty aware of that.  Him of all creatures, willingly sharing a house with a human.   _Enjoying_ it.  He really was acting strange.

“We need you.”

That same icy fear from before shocked his system again and Oikawa stopped trying to dance around Kuroo’s concerns.  This was his best friend.  The same friend who understood that Oikawa _couldn’t_ be what people expected him to be.  The same mermaid who told Oikawa that he would support him in any decision he made.  Kuroo wasn’t the type to easily change those statements.  Never went back on his word. For Kuroo to be asking him to come home, something had to of gotten worse.

“...Tetsu-chan...the...the war can’t be _that_ bad, can it?”

“There is increased activity in the Sirens but not on our borders.  Not anymore.  A few weeks ago they suddenly stopped.   _He_ gave them a direct order to pull back.  We thought maybe it was a retreat going into a surrender but that doesn’t seem to be the case at all.  They’re mobilizing and it _looks_ like they are trying to find their way here.”

“What do you mean it _looks_ like?” Oikawa asked feeling a pounding headache press against his forehead.

“I mean, they are steadily moving towards this island but it doesn’t quite seem like they know where they’re going.  They are only moving during specific times in the day and even then the times vary.  We can’t get a good grip on the pattern but it’s like they’re following some sort of trail.  We can’t figure out what but...it started _after_ you came here...”

“I didn’t want to be in this war, Tetsu-chan.”

“You didn’t think you’d be able to run away for forever, did you?”  Kuroo’s irritating smirk just served to show that he was being laughed at, “You’re kind of a key figure you know.”

Oikawa groaned into Kuroo’s shoulder feeling miserable, “Don’t remind me.”

“Hey,” Kuroo’s voice was soft and he pinched Oikawa lightly on the nose bringing the smallest upward curve to Oikawa’s lips, “you always forget but, you aren’t alone in this.”

Everyone said that but it sure as hell felt like he was.  Like he was expected to carry the weight of the entire kingdom at just a few hundred years old and to carry out and win a war that he wanted no part of.  The pressure was too much.  He wanted to abide by _his_ duties and for the most part he could whine his way into it.  No one dared to object the demands of the high prince after all.  Aside from his parents that is.

“I still have work to do here,” Oikawa protested.

“What, you can’t find your vessel?” Kuroo asked while moving them to be in a warmer current as Oikawa was starting to shiver, “Has it really been so long that it’s moved too far inland?  Or have the people completely forgotten about it?”

“No...no…”Oikawa denied with a tired sigh, “Nothing like that.  I’ve completed my duty but there’s this _human._ ”

“...A human?”

“Yeah he’s just...I can’t get a good read on him Tetsu-chan.  Everytime I think I have him figured out he just does something that makes me wonder if I’ve ever truly known _humans_.”  

“Okay? I don’t understand what this has to do with you having to stay here?  Or what it has to do with you starving your gills.  This isn’t good for you.”

“I can’t exactly grow out my gills around a bunch of humans okay.  You know what they think about us.”

“True.”

“I don’t have much time to myself either.  Of course Iwa-chan already knows I’m a mermaid but he’s almost _always_ —”

“Wait, whoa whoa hold on.  Is this _Iwa-chan_ a human?  A human who _knows_ you’re a mermaid?”

Oops.

“Ahh...yes.”

“I’m taking you home right now.”

“No, Tetsu-chan listen it’s not like that—,”

“—Not like what, Tooru?  Not like the very beings that have been culling us for _centuries,_ knows your identity and could come after you at any point?  Are you _crazy_?  You aren’t safe here!”

“I’m not safe _anywhere_ , Tetsu-chan.  Iwa-chan is different okay.  I’m not going home.”

“Different?  Tooru do you even _hear_ yourself?  It’s only a matter of time before he ends up being just like every other human on this goddman _planet_.  Okay, _I’m_ in charge of _your_ safety.  I’m your goddamn _bodyguard_ and if I have to ignore a direct order from you in order to keep you safe, you better bet your _ass_ I’ll fucking do it.  We’re going home.  Gill up.”

“No.”  Oikawa said firmly, “I’m not going.  You don’t understand anything.  There’s something _weird_ about him.  It’s the same feeling I got when that new siren came into play.  At The Battle of Northworths.”

It only took the name of their strangest battle in the oceans war to make Kuroo fall silent.  For the grip around his waist that had been prepared to physically force him away to relax just a little.  A battle where the Heart of several different mermaids were rendered useless by the extraordinary absorbency of one Siren.  They nearly lost the territory if it weren’t for the _freak duo._  

“He’s non-reactive to my heart most of the time and if he _does_ become reactive, it’s because I’ve pumped _insane_ amounts into his system.  Enough that any other human would have combusted by now.  There’s no way for his dormant Heart to be co-existing with my heart _and_ the Heart he was slapped with by a Siren if there _wasn’t_ something weird about him.  Yet here he is, sucking up every single stray bit of Heart I have.  Every lose fiber, if I touch his skin he just starts...fucking _taking it_.  I have to actively stop his body from absorbing my heart.  It’s like he’s starved for it.  I don’t get it.”

“He could be in league with the Sirens.  You know they’ve brainwashed humans into being their puppets.  Tooru this is dangerous…”

“No...He’s not.  He’s got this _trauma_ about Sirens.  Goes pale and hardly responsive when they’re mentioned.  Sometimes I think he hates them more than _I_ do.”

“I’ve got to admit that’s pretty impressive.  Here I thought it was impossible to do,” Kuroo tried to add his signature smirk onto the end of his words but the face looked pained as if he were still debating forcing a gill change onto Oikawa and running with him, or sticking it out and listening.  It didn’t help that Hajime was calling for him from the beach now, “You should have left already Tooru.  No one wants an attached human.  That level of curious is only bad news for us.”

“I was never worried about the humans being attached to me,” Oikawa huffed flipping his wet hair back and ignoring Hajime’s call.  

“God, you’re right.  You’re too annoying,” Kuroo sighed.

“ _Hey_! Tetsu-chan!”

A moment of silence passed between them as Kuroo chuckled, his brain still clearly on overdrive before it seemed to just stop and he turned in horror to Oikawa, “Fuck...wait.  You... _aren’t_... _you’re_ the one attached?!”

“I’m offended that you think so, Tetsu-chan!”  Oikawa gasped.  He chewed on his lower lip because...it was a little obvious wasn’t it, “Okay, I just can’t explain this to you very well, Tetsu-chan…”

“Ohmygod.”

“You’ve never seen the way he reacts to Heart...no how Heart reacts to _him_.   Iwa-chan is just so _strange_ for a human.  There are times when I look at him….and he seems more like a mermaid than he is a human.”

“That’s _literally_ crazy.”

“Isn’t it!”  Oikawa chirped with a grin, eyes bright.

“You’ve been out of the water for too long.  It’s gotten to your brain.”

“Well...I probably can’t argue with you there.  My month is almost up.”

“Hurry up and change!  Tooru you can’t go another day.  Have you even _looked_ at yourself?”

“I bet I could last another two,” Oikawa said with a teasing grin.  

“You can’t run away from your responsibilities for forever.”

“Maybe I’ll try for three,” he added offhandedly.  

“ _Oikawa_.” Pushing Kuroo’s buttons was just too easy.

He ignored Kuroo and instead wiggled out of his grip to pop back up onto the pier.  Kuroo grabbed his arm and gave him a firm look—ignoring Hajime’s second call of Oikawa’s name.  He sighed trying to figure out the best way to make Kuroo let him go.  Already, scales were starting to push up to the surface of his skin.  If he stayed in the water with Kuroo any longer his body would force the change for him in a desperate attempt to get his gills the oxygen they craved.  

“Please, Tetsu-chan.  I need to figure this out.  Just a few more days.  I’ll come back tomorrow to let my gills breathe properly.  Stay if you have to, but I _need_ to go.”

“You like him,” Kuroo said plainly as if testing him.  He only stared back at his bodyguard unwilling to confirm or deny that statement despite his silence being quite telling to his longtime friend.  Kuroo sighed heavily and ran a webbed hand through his bedhead before he hissed under his breath, “ _Fuck_.  Okay a few more days...but i’m _not_ leaving without you _and_ I’m sending word to your parents that you’ve been held up with your sacred duty.”

“Deal,” Oikawa said firmly.  Kuroo gave one more hopeless sigh before he gave Oikawa a boost onto the pier, quickly disappearing before he could be seen by anyone. As he rose to his feet on the wood and the water drained off of his body, he began to feel his off kilter balance and his mind went warm and groggy.  As it was, he probably _did_ only have two days left until his change was forced upon him with the smallest drop of water.  Three days was highly improbable.  

“Coming~ Iwa-chan!”  He called while willing his scales—which had popped up in reaction to Kuroo—to go away.  They fell with small _clinks_ onto the pier as he wobbled his way to his human.  The small pink patches they left behind were hardly noticeable beyond what Hajime called his _sunburn_.  

“What took you so long?” Hajime asked, a scrunch to his fuzzy eyebrows as he took in Oikawa’s no doubt ragged appearance.

“Nothing~ Nothing~” Oikawa sang, “Just dipping my feet.”  

He was silent as Hajime made a noncommittal noise and slid an arm around his waist, keeping him steady, but he was oh so very grateful.  The gesture had been made habitual with the faking of their relationship over the past few weeks but Oikawa had a feeling that in this case it was due entirely to the fact that he couldn’t walk straight without his legs wobbling.

“Mattsun wants to get shaved ice, if you want to go?” Makki’s suggestion almost seemed like a meek apology and for just a moment it confused Oikawa—the entire previous incident slipped from his mind with the appearance of his bodyguard who had little good news for him.

Excitement pounded in Oikawa’s chest.  Shaved ice, an old invention that only got better with time.  Modern flavors were sticky and sweet, nothing back home came close to the taste.  Unrestrained glee made him wrap his own arm around Hajime’s waist, squeezing his side briefly, a grin stretched over his face and he nodded.

A mistake.

Dizziness swarmed his vision and spotted it with black.  He lost his footing and had to rely heavily on Hajime.  Were human feet always so hard to navigate on? Or was his deprivation?  He regained his balance just a moment too late and Hajime’s hand was gripping his hip firmly—something he’d be excited about _later_.  What progress after all.  First came the worried stares directed at him from all three boys.

“Are you o—,”

“I’m fine!” Oikawa said quickly, “I just wanted to apologize Makki-chan!  I didn’t mean to snap!”  He pressed his palms together in front of his face and offered a pleasant expression towards the wing spiker.  

“Ahh no, I should be the one apologizing,” Makki said with his palms facing out, “I went too far.”

“You’re sweating,” Mattsun pointed with a raised eyebrow at Oikawa.  His unspoken question too clear, _are you certain that you’re fine?_

“Mattsun is so funny,” Oikawa said between clenched teeth and a fake smile, “it’s obviously water, not sweat, silly.”

“We’ll pass on shaved ice,” Hajime said firmly.

“Iwa-chan!  I want to eat it!”  Oikawa protested with a heavy pout.

“I don’t feel very well.”  Hajime looked pointedly at him and Oikawa knew there was no way to convince him to go.  He wanted to talk.  

“Well if Iwa-chan doesn’t feel good I guess there’s no helping it,” Oikawa sighed, “I’ll just have to nurse you back to health!”  He threw in a cheesy wink that felt a little too real to him.  

Makki and Mattsun shared a look but ultimately shrugged it off with a _feel better soon_.  As if they knew _exactly_ why Hajime had said he wasn’t feeling well.  Their concerned over the shoulder glances at him as they walked away made him think that it was perhaps they thought Hajime was covering for Oikawa not feeling well instead of wanting an interrogation.  

“Alright, come on,” Hajime sighed while he pulled his arm away from Oikawa’s waist.

“Really, Iwa-chan? Here?” Oikawa huffed cocking his hip out and trying to appear normal even though his legs were still shaking, “I don’t think it’s something we should talk about in the open.”

“I’d actually prefer it if you shut up for a little bit,” Hajime said bluntly.

“ _Rude! Iwa-chan is so rude!_ ”  He couldn’t help the screeching, at this point it was automatic.  

He huffed, waiting for a reply but Hajime silently grabbed one of the towels they had brought along and began to towel him off.  Oikawa, unused to Hajime willingly touching him found himself shocked into stillness.  Hajime was surprisingly gentle with each patting of the towel over his skin, attentively drying him.  When he noticed the tremors in Oikawa’s legs he grabbed on of Oikawa’s hands and put it on his shoulder, silently offering his support.  It was such a tender motion and the press of the cotton towel so intimate over his skin he could feel the heat of a blush furiously taking over his face.  

Hajime was just...full of surprises.

“Iwa-chan is so sweet today,” Oikawa commented quietly, almost afraid that by speaking he was going to ruin the moment.

“Am I?” Hajime briefly made contact with their eyes before he stood to towel off Oikawa’s hair.  

“Yes, very.”  He raised one of his hands up to adjust the towel but left the other one on Hajime’s shoulder.  He was too aware of their proximity.  Too aware of the cute way that Hajime had to tilt his chin up to meet Oikawa’s eye, permanent scowl replaced by a near Hajime-esq pout.  Only the tiniest, slightest, puff of his lower lip toeing out to be beyond his upper lip.  Too cute.

“You’re secretive today,” Hajime stated, blunt.

“Oh?”

“How long have you been feeling this off?” He gestured to Oikawa’s tilted body and shaking legs, “Do you have a fever too?  You look like shit.”

How many times was he going to hear that one today?  Rude.

“Since when did Iwa-chan get to be so observant?”

“Doesn’t take being observant to see that you’re fucking sick,” Hajime grumbled while looking Oikawa up and down.  He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose—a strange human habit.  Nose pinches were supposed to be fun and distracting, not filled with so much stress.  With a heavy sigh Hajime handed Oikawa their shared bag and turned around before bending into a crouch, arms out like a bent airplane.

“Iwa-chan?”

“C’mon don’t make me stand here like an idiot.  Get on before the offer expires.”

“Oh?” Oikawa cooed slyly, “Are Iwa-chan’s ears red?”

“Are you going to be walking home?” Hajime countered.

“Oh yes, yes just my imagination then,” Oikawa said cheerfully before climbing up onto Hajime’s back giddy with excitement.  His Hajime really _was_ full of surprises today.  He was honestly relieved that Hajime had offered.  With the walk they had to get to Hajime’s house, Oikawa was certain that he wouldn’t have even made it halfway on his shaky limbs and exhausted body.  He laid his head down on Hajime’s shoulder and sighed softly in content.  

Two more days.  

He could make it two more days while figuring out who the hell Iwaizumi Hajime was.  Right?

Wrong.

The next morning found him stuck in Hajime’s bed dizzy and delirious. His gills, tucked away in between layers of flesh and fat, were dry and burning.  His desperate inhales into his all too human lungs weren’t at all helpful to his starved gills.  Glass after glass of water had been downed but still, nothing.  It wasn’t good enough, passing by his gills too quickly for them to pull away any of the oxygen and nutrients they needed. Instead he only began to feel bloated and his bladder, too full.  

Hajime’s mother had been in and out of the room trying to help and while the sentiment was sweet, it wasn’t what he needed.  As it was he could hardly communicate what he needed with any human in the house.  His tongue could hardly work around the bends and curves of soft R’s and hard I’s of their language.  He found the soft coo’s and bubbly vowels of his native tongue far more inviting and much more comforting.  This seemed to worry Auntie, her hand often finding his forehead to smear his sweat soaked bangs back onto his head like a disgusting oily mammal.  

He wasn’t even a mammal!

There was no existing word in the human language that properly described his species.  They were too much of an inbetween of fish and mammals and Oikawa refused to accept Kuroo’s suggestion of ‘fammal’ or ‘mamm _ish_.’ He was far more than just the squishing of two species into one.  He was his own _superior_ species.

“I called for Mamaw, Tooru,” Aunties voice startled him, seemingly coming out of nowhere and everywhere at once, “She’ll be here soon.”

He didn’t even try to hide his disdain, he didn’t like this _mamaw_.  She had a strange feeling in the air about her and her medication made Iwaizumi more intensely focused on the water than he needed to be.  Who knew what she would force upon Oikawa.  Besides there wasn’t anything a witch doctor was going to be able to do for him.  He would only get better by getting in the water.  He could already tell that within the hour, he wouldn’t be able to keep drinking those glasses of water without his body forcing the change on him at the first drop of liquid.  A desperate survival attempt to keep his gills from killing him.  

He couldn’t tell if the time it took Mamaw to come crawling into his space was _soon_ or not but he did know that he didn’t like it either way.  Not the way her eyes went wide as if she understood _exactly_ what was going on with him.  Nor in the way that she kicked out both Hajime and Auntie and hovered over his weakened body.  

“Now, now, what is a creature like _you_ doing _here_?”  

She spoke in his native language.

Oikawa’s horrified expression was a stark contrast to her wrinkled skin folding over in amazement and wonder.  If he really thought to look hard, there was even a glint of malice to be found.   Her gnarled hands and leathery skin felt unpleasant where they pinched at his arm.  A general sense of unease and nausea rushed over him.  With great effort Oikawa managed to roll onto his side and hurled over the old woman’s bare feet.  She hardly reacted to it.

“Who _are_ you?”  Oikawa rasped, his words coming easier with his native-tongue, while his heart pounded away in his chest and panic clouded his thoughts.  He needed Kuroo.  Where was Kuroo? Why did Oikawa _never listen_ to him?

“I go by Mamaw above the surface.”

“Who are you _really_?” Oikawa snarled, Heart rearing up in his body to aid him in fighting her off.  He had hardly brought it up to buzz beneath his skin when she pulled back with a hiss and—had he _burned her_ with just his heart?  

“It isn’t important right now, rather, does the boy know what you are?” She had fallen into a crouch, hovering just barely over him and her feet squelching in the puddle of his upchuck.

There was a sense of danger that came with the implication of that question.  One that yelled at Oikawa to remove himself from the situation.  To get away at any cost because if he didn’t there might not be a second chance.  Not in this state at least.  Why didn’t he just listen to Kuroo? He could have easily taken this wrinkled hag down had he been at full strength but in the end, he never let his gills out.  Never listened.

“I’ll take that as a no.” Mamaw’s saggy face turned upwards into a dark grin, “What do you think the boy traumatized by one that looks so like you, would think if I told him the truth?  Don’t you think he’d let me take you with me?”  She ran a withered finger down the side of his cheek before cupping it with the full spread of her palm.

“He wouldn’t,” Oikawa hissed, breath wheezing out of his chest alongside his racing heartbeat. Iwaizumi already knew afterall.

“Wouldn’t he?” Mamaw cooed, her voice slimy like the presence he felt oiling up his skin, “I’ve been running low on raw ingredients anyway.”

“Raw ingredients?” Oikawa questioned breathlessly.

It was only then that he realized how her greasy presence resembled the magic crafters of the sea.  Ones who could turn the strangest of creatures and muds into medicines and odd spells. Beings so strange and ruthless, that even Sirens hesitated to ask them for the allegiance in the war.  

“Yes, I was going to go out for some today anyway,” she said in a gleefully teetered voice with a grin so wide it showed her gums and missing teeth.

He took in her wrinkled skin, heavy and thick like leather, and even in his delirious state he could tell that it was akin to how sea creatures who could live on land looked after they dried up.  Her hair which was spiraled and white resembled the bleached look starfish often took on after prolonged exposure to the intense sun on the equator.

“Why can you understand me?” Oikawa mumbled around thick lips, numb with the growing realization of what could be standing before him.

“Oh yes,” She cooed, ignoring him entirely while running the rough skin of her thumb across his lips and cheeks, “you’ll do very nicely.  You have very fine features, don’t you? I can grind you up into something quite grandiose. Or perhaps I could study you...you’d be beneficial for that too.”

It was then that it hit him.   _He_ was the raw ingredients that she was seeking and she knew he was a mermaid.  There was no way around that.  It made sense then, that she was eyeing him like he were a product in a shop.  There was only one creature he knew of that created spells and medicines from something as hard to catch and sentient as a mermaid.

“You’re a sea witch,” he stated in a voice that sounded numb despite his racing heart and building panic.

She cackled at him, eyes curving up in amusement, “what gave me away?” She asked as if she weren’t really looking for an answer at all but merely playing with his panic,—which he was certain she could feel.

“They’ll be able to tell,” Oikawa gasped in a last ditch effort to try and survive this encounter, “that whatever foul thing you create was made with a mermaid.  Any creature of the sea will know right away!”

“ _You_ didn’t,” she countered with a large grin that showed even more of her gums and pulled back her heavy wrinkled cheeks.

Oikawa’s heart dropped cold, “What?”  What had he done? Had he taken something from her? A medication? A spell? How had he _not_ known?

“Besides,” She tutted her smile and folds falling as her face evened out again, “I am banned from the sea.  No creature there uses my creations.”

“Then…” she was feeding something to the humans on this island.  Something vile and disgusting and made from _mermaid_.

“The boy could probably use more medication by this point anyway, don’t you think?”  

Oikawa’s blood stopped cold.  Suddenly the pieces of the puzzle began to fit together quite nicely.  She was feeding it to Hajime. To _his_ human! On some sort of subconscious level he _knew_ Hajime’s medication was made from his brethren and from that came his instant hate and distrust of the medication.  His feelings of unease around Mamaw before also seemed logical if she had been the one to crush up the bodies of his kind. Of course the biggest puzzle of all had solved itself as well.

 _I feel like...I’m committing some horrible act of treason?_     

He must have pumped so much of his Heart into Hajime over the past month, that he was starting to become sensitive to other creatures around him.  Dead or not.  Eating them...that would fit into the category of treason quite neatly.  

“Iwa-chan already knows,” Oikawa said, voice suddenly even despite the cold sweat on his brow and tremor in his breath, “He’s known since day one.”

“Lying won’t help you now you know,” Mamaw laughed, “humans are so easy to trick.  It won’t take much for me to convince them you should recover with me. Your death? Even easier.”

With more strength than her withered body suggested it had, Mamaw hoisted him up by the nails digging into his shoulder.  Fear flooded his chest and stopped his voice up in his throat while his head spun and he lost his vision.  He could fight her but it was obvious to even Oikawa that he would lose the fight until he got in some water. He was trying to figure out the best way to conserve his energy and push back his fear when the door squeaked on its opening hinges.

“Mamaw?”

He had never been so happy to hear a human’s voice.  

“Iwa-chan.”  He sounded more terrified than pleading—which is what he had been going for—but it seemed to work well enough; Hajime’s eyes darted towards him then the floor.

“Mamaw, please let me move him,” Hajime said like the good mannered boy Auntie raised him to be, “I should have brought him a bucket. If you wait a moment I’ll bring you something to clean your feet with.”

“Such a sweet boy you are, Hajime-chan.”  Mamaw’s face was pleasant but Oikawa could feel her irritation bouncing off of his pores.  She could use Heart.

Hajime was in danger.

As he tried to rise and convey this he realized _he_ was still in danger as well.  He managed only to upset his precarious balance on the edge of the bed with only a hags hand to support him.  Then, for the second time in 48 hours, Hajime had slipped an arm around him and supported his weight.  Mamaw obediently stepped off to the side, disgusting smile still plastered on her face.

“I think I might need to take him with me, Hajime-chan,” she said voice sounding muddled and concerned, “He’s not right in the head, seems rather confused to me.  I think it might be the fever but I’d rather be safe than sorry you know.”

Oikawa was still trying to work his tongue around anything resembling the human language, trying to tell Hajime that he would _not_ be going with this wretched sea hag.  That they were in _danger_ and whatever Hajime did next, it had to be a step towards safety.  Like finding Kuroo and getting him to Oikawa’s side. Or getting Oikawa into the damn ocean.

“I don’t know Mamaw,” Hajime started, shocking not only Oikawa but Mamaw as well, “it might not be a good idea to move him around so much right now.”

“But better in the long run, my dear.”

“Let’s talk about it after I get you a rag and clean him up a bit.”  Hajime smiled pleasantly and pushed his other arm underneath both of Oikawa’s stupid human legs.  

Did he really look that bad?

“Of course, dear.”

Hajime straightened out and held him close to his chest.  It was only then that Oikawa realized how fast Hajime’s heart was _racing_.  He was just as scared as Oikawa was, had he realized?  Had he been listening?  Relief washed over his body sapping his strength away.  He pressed his sweat soaked forehead against Hajime’s chest and brought a shaking hand to cling at Hajime’s thick sweater.

“Oikawa?  Hey, look up a bit,” Hajime prompted when they were in the bathroom, “are you okay?”

He nodded against Hajime’s chest but then thought better of it and shook his head.  Hajime’s heart was still racing just as fast as Oikawa’s was.  Mamaw was still in the house.  Auntie was unaccounted for.  He didn’t know how to reach Kuroo outside of the sea.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” Hajime was whispering now as he lowered Oikawa into the bathtub, “I just...I got this _feeling_ that something wasn’t right.  Like, god are you _terrified_ right now? I feel _terrified._  I just kept thinking that something was wrong with you...and...and has Mamaw _always_ carried around that scary aura that says she’s just waiting to betray you?  I don’t remember that.  Why do I feel like that?”

Was Hajime ranting from nerves?  How cute.

“Then I walked in there and it was just _worse_ and you sounded so _scared_.  I don’t even know what you were saying...do you even remember how to speak in human tongues?  Oh god do you even know what I’m saying right now?”  Hajime gripped his shoulders and shook him, rattling his head and rendering him dizzy, “Oikawa!  You can’t forget a whole damn language in one hour can you?”  

No he couldn’t, but working his dry tongue around Hajime’s language was getting harder and harder with his muddled brains and oxygen starvation.  He could breathe as fast and hard or as slow and light as he wanted with his crappy human lungs but he could still feel himself suffocating.  He would have to make due with what he had.  

Oikawa grabbed onto Hajime’s forearm and gave it a tight squeeze prompting him to just shut up for a second and let Oikawa gather enough of his wits to tell him the bare minimum needed to get him to kick mamaw the _fuck_ out.  

“Murderer.”

Hajime jolted as if _he_ were the one being called a murderer and blinked before he looked towards his bedroom, “Mamaw is?”

Oikawa nodded desperately and clutched onto Hajime’s thick sleeve with one hand and pointed to himself with his other while clearing his throat rather pathetically, “ I _won’t_ go.”

“To Mamaws?” Hajime asked while seemingly subconsciously wiping off a rolling bead of sweat from Oikawa’s forehead.

He nodded, forcing his tongue to abide by the heavy sounds of Hajime’s native tongue, “If I go, I’ll die.”

Hajime jolted again and looked hesitantly toward his room and bit his lip.  Chewed on it.  Smoothed Oikawa’s hair back and then sucked in his upper lip to chew on that for a moment before nodding to himself, “Okay.  I’ll take care of it.  Just wait two seconds, I’ll be right back I swear.”

He was apprehensive about letting Hajime go but there wasn’t much he could do from his current standpoint.  He watched the student worry his lower lip once more between his teeth as he left, and before he could even process his own action, he had sighed fondly at how utterly cute this human was.  Realizing his own reaction, Oikawa sunk down into the bathtub and covered his face with his hands.  How could have come so low in his life to be amused and dazzled by a mere human?  How did he ever let it get this far?  In a mere month!

Raised voices brought him out of his embarrassment and concern welled up in his chest.  He had sent a human, a flawed, vulnerable human out to some sort of creature that was from the sea and could more than likely fight.  Hajime had physical strength but he was _very_ susceptible to manipulations and influences through Heart usage. No, more than that, he was _weak_ to it.  Had already been traumatized with it and it affected _everything_ about him.  

Oikawa gripped the side of the tub and tried to lift himself out of it but ultimately lost his grip and ended up sliding back down into the boat shaped hell trap.  Heart pounding and dizzy, he listened as Auntie’s voice joined into the fray.  Then, finally, was the sound of someone stomping out of the house and down the stairs.  Due to how quiet the rest of the house got, he _had_ to assume it was the medicine woman who had left.  

“Oikawa,” Iwaizumi’s voice was a welcome relief, as were the cool hands on either side of his face, “you still with me?  I got mamaw to leave...she wasn’t very happy about it.”

He hadn’t realized he had let his eyes slip shut some time ago but he could practically see the concern on Hajime’s face.  If his expression was anything like the way his voice oozed with it, then Oikawa could assume it was just as wondrous.  He was relieved that there was one less thing for him to worry about but at this point, he needed water.  More than just a glass.  He needed to submerge, to be filled to the brim with lifesaving, “I need water.”

“Do-another glass?”  

Oikawa gripped Hajime’s sweater, it didn’t seem as if he were about to leave but he wasn’t about to take that chance as he let his head roll back and forth against the slope of the tubs backrest, “The ocean.”

“Uhhhh, that’s not a good idea right now,” Hajime cautioned.  Cracking his eyes open showed Oikawa the way that Hajime was grinding his lip between his incisors.

“Iwa-chan,” Oikawa sighed, licking his lips and trying his hardest to remember how the words he wanted were supposed to sound, “my time is up. Gotta get in the ocean _now_.”

“You can’t,” Hajime said firmly, though his expression still unsure, “We’ll figure something out.”

“Too tired, I have to go.”  Oikawa didn’t even try to stop his heavy sigh.  It was already too much energy to make words work properly but if Hajime wasn’t going to get him what he needed; he wasn’t beyond desperate maneuvers.  He braced his hands on the side of the tub and heaved his body up; a dizzy spell making him freeze.

                    “Stop,” Hajime demanded, his hands gripping either side of Oikawa’s shoulders and trying to push him back down.  Oikawa wished he could say that he had enough strength to resist, “They’ll _kill_ you.”

“What?” The words didn’t really compute in his brain.  Who was going to kill him?  As far as he was concerned, Mamaw was the only threat to him on the island.  The only other one besides Hajime who knew his identity...unless…

“I’ll explain later,” Hajime huffed before nervously biting his lip again, “I need you to trust me.  Just for a few minutes. Do you _have_ to be in saltwater or will freshwater work?”

Oikawa sighed, sick of the questions and misdirections instead of answers, “Saltwater has minerals I need but I can survive in freshwater.” He sounded put off and angry even in his own ears; he wondered how Hajime heard him.

“C’mon.”

Oikawa’s sigh was heavy and burdened as he heaved himself away from the edge of the tub where Hajime’s hands were prompting him to go.  His shirt was shimmied off of his body and if he hadn’t of felt so terrible and exhausted, he would have found the blush across Hajime’s face and into his ears to be delectably adorable.  He was mostly just confused as to why Hajime kept trying to tug his pants off.  It finally occurred to him that Hajime intended for him to make the change right there, in the bathtub.

“Cute that you’re being so dependent, but this is too small.  The water will get dirty.”

“Shut up,” Hajime said gruffly, “this isn’t about me.  This is for you, you shitty asshole.”

Any hurt remark he could have made was cut off by Hajime slapping the tap on.  The water had hardly splashed onto his skin before his muscles tensed and his teeth ground down, fingers white knuckled against the side of the tub as he legs began to mold into one solid mass.  Scales pushed their way up from beneath his skin, the pain of his forced change too sudden and overwhelming in pain forcing his back to arch and his head to slap against the back of the tub and he cried out.

His eyes were squeezed shut but he could still recognize the pull of Hajime’s fingers through his hair—an action that had been slowly reinforced throughout their month of fake dating.  He was only able to take comfort in it the sensation for a mere moment.  As the water reached his ribs his skin split and heaved open into thick gills frantically flexing and trying to pull in oxygen.  There was an awkward lull in the span of time from when the water had just reached his ribs to when it would surpass them where he wasn’t quite able to bring in air through his shitty human lungs and where there was no air to be brought in by his gills.  The complete lack of sufficient air made his head spin and nausea to churn in his stomach. Then as his gills were overtaken by the water level his human lungs began to fill, as they should. The slow pace was like being tortured.  Unsure of when he could take a breath, unsure of which body part he should be trying to breathe from.  

The tub _was_ too small and his tail ended up flipping over the side of it and slapping against the wet tiles on the floor.  Small fins began to poke out from his arms and Oikawa had to physically _work_ to release his death grip on the tub to let them fall into the water as well. As the water level rose, it began to feel more pleasant.  The skin over his secondary gills on his neck splitting open to push them upwards and they too began to pull in water as his human lungs filled fully.  Finally, a sigh of relief could slip past his lips.  

“C’mon, lean back,” Hajime was coaxing him with such a sweet voice that he found it hard to refuse.  He let his head be pushed under the water, instantly relieved by its coolness on his cheeks.  The sound of running water stopped and he assumed the tub had reached capacity.  Really, the water would need to be changed often for it to stay clean enough for him to survive in.

Fingers carded through his hair again, feeling surprisingly different beneath the surface of the water than it did in the air.  A small crack between his eyelids revealed that Hajime had neglected to push up the sleeves to his thick sweater and they were becoming thoroughly soaked in the bathwater.  He wasn’t about to tell Hajime to stop though.  The feeling was far too pleasurable and sleep inducing.  

Just before he accidentally drifted off he heard, for the first time, what Hajime sounded like through the water’s interference.  A very quiet, very soft spoken, “Hang in there, Kusokawa,” that made his lips instinctually spring up in an equally soft smile.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow you guys I'm so sorry for this late chapter!!! But the good news is that Chapter 7 is already written and it is in the betaing process! I ended up writing 6 and 7 as one long chapter but it ended up being TOO long so we broke it in half! If everything goes well, it'll come out soon! Don't forget that I post teasers and progress on my tumblr at Koi-ink.tumblr.com! Please look there if you are curious or have any questions!  
> and as always a huge huge huge thank you to my beta inspiringanna for everything she does!


	7. A Thousand Years I've Searched For You

**** Apprehension made it hard for Iwaizumi to do anything but stare creepily at Oikawa’s submerged face, while his shins and ass slowly froze from the chill of the bathroom tiles. Oikawa said he could  _ survive _ in freshwater, which probably meant it wasn’t the best to  _ recover  _ in; not with how bad he was looking.  His skin had taken on an eerie green shimmer and the bags under his eyes darkening too deeply.  Small tremors seemed to plague the mermaid and Iwaizumi was pretty sure he could still make out individual sweat droplets formed on Oikawa’s face despite it being entirely submerged in bathwater. Of course, that level of hyper-focus could also be driven from the encounter with Mamaw. 

He hadn’t remembered the woman ever being so  _ terrifying  _ before.  Normally she was very docile to him.  She had never seemed threatening before, but in those moments where he had been unable to stand the growing panic in his own body and he had interrupted whatever was happening between her and Oikawa; she had seemed  _ dangerous _ . Her facial expressions, tone, and physicality had all seemed the same to him but there was this  _ aura _ about her that made the hair on the back of his neck like pin pricks in his skin—which had been crawling. 

More than that, was the strange aura he had felt from Oikawa.  He had seen the man in distress, had seen him anxious, excited, and confused but he had  _ never _ felt that level of terror from him before. It was like a persistent banging on the back of his head that made him rocket off the couch in the living room and practically run to Oikawa’s side.  As soon as he witnessed the situation he knew he had to remove Oikawa from Mamaw’s wrath.  

As he sat there on the bathroom floor, pointer finger lazily tracing the outline of Oikawa’s jaw, he wondered just when it was that he allowed himself to care this much for a creature that he should—by all intents and purposes hate.  Should have been disgusted by the way that Oikawa’s gills frantically worked to pull in what they needed—well he  _ was _ a little disgusted... _ pretty _ disgusted.  

Except, it quelled to a mere uncomfortable rolling in his belly instead of the loathing he used to feel when looking at the other.  The feeling dissipated with each passing memory of Oikawa’s flaws.  This was a person who snorted too hard when he laughed—one time spewing milk across the table and all over Mattsun’s hands.  The one who watched his first alien movie and never let Iwaizumi live it down—he was  _ adamant _ that if mermaids existed when humans thought them to be a myth, then surely aliens existed somewhere!  His feelings of distrust and rolling disgust were hacked away at, day by day over the course of a mere month, until they were so muted that he could touch the other, scales and all and feel... _ almost _ nothing.  

A commotion at the front door brought him from his musings and he sighed, thinking that the ever stubborn Mamaw had returned.  He was steeling himself to deal with her when Makki and Mattsun’s voices could be heard pleading with his mother to be let in despite Oikawa’s illness.  His heart skyrocketed into his head.  How could he have been so stupid as to have Oikawa change his form in his  _ house _ where there were people who couldn’t know what he was?  During  _ culling _ week even.  What a fucking mess. 

“Hajime, Taka-chan and Issei-chan are here to see you,” his mother called, the sound of their footsteps echoing from the living room.  

Panicked, he slammed the bathroom door shut with his foot, “Just wait a minute!  Uh, have them wait in my room!” 

“Oh Hajime no need to be shy,” came the devious taunting that could only belong to Hanamaki, “I’m sure we’ve  _ all _ seen  _ little _ Hajime before~” 

“I’d rather wait than see him taking a shit,” Matsukawa interjected in a bored drawl, “Sorry Auntie…”

“Don’t be, I’m of the same sentiment,” his mother laughed. 

“Well I  _ am _ taking a shit okay.  A huge one. So go  _ wait in my room _ .” 

“Funny,” Makki called, his voice getting closer to the bathroom door, “I haven’t seen Oikawa out and about yet.  Could it be...a coprophiliac?” 

“You’re  _ disgusting _ ,” Iwaizumi spat while swiveling around frantically, searching for a way to hide Oikawa’s tail. 

“You aren’t doing something  _ inappropriate _ in there  _ are _ you?” 

“Shut up Hanamaki. Oikawa is sick, how do you know I’m not cleaning up his vomit!” Iwaizumi snapped while lunging across the room to the towel rack. 

“Because you aren’t,  _ are  _ you?” 

“Guess we’ll find out,” Mattsun snickered.

He had managed to fling one of the towels over Oikawa’s fin before the bathroom door was flung open and his two friends came barreling in; his mother peaking in behind them with a mischievous grin.  He could see the exact moment that they all realized exactly what was going on.  Iwaizumi stuck with wet knees and soaked sleeves on the bathroom floor, towels clutched in his hand and a giant fishtail flopped out over his floor—poorly concealed with a rectangle of crumpled cotton. Hanamaki’s face dropped and his body lurched into full tenseness.  Matsukawa’s normally flat expression flipped into concern and his eyes darted towards the front end of the tub, while his mother audibly gasped.  

“It’s not what you think!”

“What the  _ fuck _ ,” Hanamaki was already moving with a speed that Iwaizumi had only seen from him on the court.  Before he could protest, he was hauled to his feet and yanked across the bathroom where Mattsun flung an arm out to keep him back.

“Wait! Wait,” Iwaizumi yelled, pressing against the restraint of Matsukawa’s arm and pulling against the hand his mother had fisted into the back of his shirt.

“Hajime, sweetie,” his mother sounded terrified, “are you still with mommy?  C’mere baby…” 

Guilt crushed his chest because he  _ knew _ that tone.  Knew it from the years where he was hospitalized.  Knew it from every damn time he had gone catatonic and tried to just let himself die and she had to pull him back to reality; away from the lure of the Siren’s song.  A song he hadn’t had problems with since Oikawa stayed with them.  He knew she thought he was reverting, and he still felt too panicked to give her a proper explanation because Makki was marching over to where Oikawa was—stuffing his ears with bits of toilet paper as he went. 

“No! Don’t! Makki, you’ll  _ kill _ him!”

Panic burst in his chest, spurring his feet to kick off against the ground as if he were going in for a winning spike.  A strong enough push off, that he broke both his mother’s grip and Matsukawa’s restraints in one breath so that he could tackle Hanamaki—who was preparing to drain the water—to the ground in the second.  Well, he mostly ended up sliding across the wet floor and  _ falling _ onto Hanamaki, but he would take what he could get.  Iwaizumi worked his feet up so they were on either side of Makki’s hips while his dominant arm pulled Makki’s around to rest tightly against the middle of his back.  He leaned his body weight forward to keep him pinned, stomach down, to the slick tiles; his heart pounding in his chest the whole time. 

“Listen to me!” It was only when his voice reverberated from the walls that he realized he had yelled.  The bathroom fell eerily silent, only their heavy breathing and shifting feet making the faintest of noise before water splashed over the side of the tub and Oikawa pulled himself into a half sitting position.

“Iwa-chan?” 

He hated how cute he thought the other was while he blinked water from his eyes, sopping hair sagging to curl around his ears and mouth downturned in his signature sleepy pout. He hated how he recognized all of it and refused to admit how his heart lightened at the sight of him unharmed.  More than any of that he  _ loathed _ how it all flashed to fear when he realized the situation. It appeared that he seemed to be shrinking in on himself by raising his chin and putting up that disgusting arrogant facade but by this point Iwaizumi knew better than to believe it.  At this point he knew that look for what it was.  Even if he didn’t, it was as if he could feel Oikawa’s fear bubbling up in the back of his mind pressing at him, urging him to do something to help. 

“Please,” he said breathlessly, hand tightening on Makki’s arm, “just, hear me out.” 

“Hajime, baby.” His mom had tears in her eyes, “Come to mama, sweetie.  _ Please _ .” 

“I’m okay.  I’m here.” He held eye contact and said it steadily, in a way that he knew he was never capable of doing when he was actually catatonic as he watched tears fall from his mother’s eyes, “Everything is  _ fine _ .”  

He hoped.

“There’s a fucking  _ siren _ in your ba—”

“—Mermaid,” Iwaizumi corrected.  He didn’t fail to catch Oikawa’s surprised look, “He’s a mermaid, not a Siren; there’s a difference.” 

“This is ridiculous,” Makki snapped, his body jerking underneath Iwaizumi’s, “Are you even  _ looking _ at him Iwaizumi?!”

“Are you?” Iwaizumi snapped back, “I’ve known since day one, what Oikawa really was.” 

Finally a hush fell over them and he grew anxious as they actually did start to listen to him, albit horrified.  He took a minute to gather himself and to hesitantly release his friend.  Hanamaki sat up and rubbed his wrist but did not try to go after Oikawa again, although that could be because Iwaizumi was physically blocking him.

“So you’ve been under his control since day one?” Matsukawa interjected, “All the more reason that we get rid of him  _ now _ .” 

“No...well I mean, kind of.”

“Hey!” Oikawa protested his voice weak and eyelids droopy. 

“You threatened to bring a curse on my island and family if I didn’t do as you said, Kusokawa.  That counts as under your control.” 

“If I wanted to control you I would have done it by now!”  

“Shut up and just go back to soaking your stupid gills,” Iwaizumi snapped, almost feeling unnerved as Oikawa only huffed and did as he demanded—a testimony to how crappy the other must be feeling, “ _ Anyway _ , for a while it was the threats and at that point I was just as freaked out as you guys are now.  Okay, I should have said something  _ before  _ but how are you supposed to bring up something like  _ this _ ?”

He sighed and pinched the skin between his eyes when it didn’t look like any of this was getting through to his friends or mother.  It was obvious they were still trying to figure out how to convince Iwaizumi to cease his rambling and leave the room so they could ‘deal’ with Oikawa. 

“The point is, Oikawa is helping me so just do me a favor and  _ listen _ .” 

“What does that entail? Helping you?” Mattsun asked above the start of Makki’s protest.

“I’m not really sure how to explain it…”

“Iwaizumi.  You’ve been fighting tooth and nail for 7  _ years _ to get out from the thumb of this Siren.  Is this really you not knowing how to explain things, or you knowing  _ exactly _ what this is and what it means so you don’t  _ want  _ to acknowledge it?”  Matsukawa paused to let his words sink in and Iwaizumi grappled to find some of his own, “You have to admit this doesn’t make sense, Hajime.” 

“I know!” Iwaizumi yelled.  His heart pounding against his ribcage and head spinning with the pressure of everything he couldn’t find the right words for.  This was too important to fuck up.  He owed a fucking mermaid his  _ life _ and couldn’t find it in his brain to say the magic words to help him? 

“Do you really know?” Matsukawa pressed on, “Do you really get how you just get swept away in things and go off on your own?  Do you really understand how often you put yourself at risk because you won’t rely on us even just a  _ little  _ bit?  Why do you think we’re here?”

“I don’t—,” he wanted to deny it, but he could feel himself getting swept up in Matsukawa’s pacing.  It was aggravating how he didn’t even have to prove his point to anyone because Iwaizumi could already feel that he was right. 

“—because I don’t think you fully get that we’re here to help you.  Part of us helping you is pointing out when a situation isn’t right Hajime, and this?  This isn’t right.  You should be able to recognize that something is very wrong here and I don’t know what happened but I know enough about mermaids, Siren’s, and  _ you _ to know that you need to let us help.” 

He wanted to have the words to prove Mattsun wrong.  Wanted to be able to just as easily go from point A to point D and have it make  _ sense. _  Except, he didn’t,  _ couldn’t _ .  Iwaizumi didn’t have the words to convince another person that they were  _ wrong _ and the situation  _ wasn’t _ as it seemed.  He could motivate a team on the court.  Could get them all united to share the same determination that he knew boiled beneath layers of self doubt and nerves, but this?  This wasn’t the same thing.  This was changing a mindset into something entirely different.  This was having the argumentative skills to get what he wanted from an unmoving force because that common denominator didn’t boil beneath Matsukawa’s skin here.  There was no knowing that Iwaizumi had a point, that this could be real because everything they were taught about mermaids was so ingrained that even he couldn’t wrap his mind around some of Oikawa’s thoughts and behaviors. 

“We just want to support you,” Makki piped up softly, rubbing his arm where Iwaizumi had once been gripping him.  

Support...maybe...maybe it  _ was _ the same after all.  Perhaps the common denominator was Iwaizumi himself.  It was a little awkward to think about but they were all there and concerned because they cared for him.  He could...he could run with that. It was worth a shot at least and not to mention, his last ditch effort. 

“For the past 7 years I feel like I haven’t been myself at all,” he started hesitantly.  It was embarrassing to actually confess some of his most private thoughts aloud but he had a feeling they all already knew this anyway, “and sometimes it feels like I never really knew who I was to begin with so there was no real concrete way to feel like I wasn’t me other than in the way I felt  _ off. _ ” 

“Hajime…” The tremor of his mother’s tear filled voice made tears well up in his own eyes and it became impossible to meet his friends gaze..  

“Sometimes I feel like the only way I can really know who I was, is through your reactions to my actions, through the way you support me.  So I get it.  I do, but  _ he _ ,” Iwaizumi gestured towards Oikawa who was still submerged in the bathtub and appearing quite calm, although he had a feeling that the mermaid was anxious, “does this creepy, disturbing  _ thing _ and it makes me  _ feel  _ again.   _ Actually  _ feel, like I  _ am _ Iwaizumi Hajime and not just living the life of some guy that I happen to  _ look _ like!  It makes me sick to my stomach, but whatever the fuck he’s supporting me with, it’s giving me my  _ life  _ back.  So I just think it would be in really  _ shitty _ taste to repay him by ripping his gills out and leaving him to rot on the beach.”  He fought the itchy tears building in his eyes and pressed his lips together in a firm line.

There was an uncomfortable pause in the room where Iwaizumi could see his words having effect.  He could practically hear the gears turning in Matsukawa’s head behind his impassive face and clenched hands.  Makki seemed pained by the confliction he no doubt felt, his face twisted up into a grimace.  His mother seemed to be steadying herself.  She knew him best and he figured he had her convinced  _ enough _ to listen to what he asked for.

“To be entirely honest, I don’t think he’s patient enough to lay out a plan that takes months to come to fruition.  If he really wanted to hurt me, he’d go for you guys—I’m sure that’s obvious enough to anyone—and he hasn’t.  So, if you can’t trust me, then trust the facts at least,” Iwaizumi said firmly, “and if you can’t do that then don’t take my word for it.  Just give him a chance to prove it to you before you kill him.  Be skeptical, be doubtful, and suspicious—I am—but hold off on your judgement for just a bit more.”  

“Don’t be a fucking idiot, Iwaizumi,” Makki said through taunt lips and pinched eyebrows, “we have always trusted  _ you _ .”

“Him on the other hand…” Mattsun added. 

“Then just—,”

“—Hajime,” his mother interrupted, her voice soft but thick with emotion, “I don’t think you need to try to convince them anymore.” 

Looking at them he knew she was right.  They looked uncomfortably and antsy with their shifty gazes and how neither one had the ability to keep their hands still.  Makki, wringing his hands at his abdomen, seemingly unaware that he was doing so while Mattsun kept pressing his thumb over the second knuckle of each finger to systematically pop them.  After the first time his knuckles ceased to pop a second, third, or fourth time.  Their expressions were pulled across their faces but they seemed willing to try.

“Okay,” Iwaizumi said relieved, “first things first, Oikawa needs actual seawater, not water from my tap.  We’re going to need to collect enough to fill this tub...and depending on how long he has to stay like this we might need to just fill the cooler outside and move him there since it’s bigger.” 

“He can’t just,” Makki made an uncomfortable gesture towards Oikawa’s tail, “grow legs?”

“Apparently not,” Iwaizumi said unimpressed as Oikawa struggled to slide an arm over the lip of the tub to aim a weak glare at Makki, “something about his time being up? I’m not really sure on the details but he can’t get rid of the tail...or the scales...or—er—the gills and we can’t exactly send him into the ocean this week...since….you know.” 

“Since it’s culling week and he’d be gutted and forcibly separated from his gills before he even took his first breath of nice fresh seawater?” Matsukawa added.

Oikawa’s face paled and his head whipped towards Iwaizumi who now had a hand pressed over his face; a heavy sigh escaping his lips, “Iwa-chan what is he talking about?” 

Iwaizumi just wanted one thing to go right for once in his life.  Just one.  Having to explain how his people had picked up on a semi regular increase in mermaid activity past this island and dedicated the whole week to culling whatever they could snag from the sea in a desperate sense of revenge for the loved ones they had lost to songs was not something he wanted to come near with a ten foot pole.  

“Will two of you please go get buckets of seawater while I deal with this?” Iwaizumi requested leaving it up to the three of them who they would send, as Iwaizumi knew full well that they wouldn’t allow him to be alone with Oikawa at all.  He turned away from them as they started to discuss it and instead pulled the shower head down from the holder it was clipped into.  

“Iwa-chan,” Oikawa’s voice was weak but he could hear the desperation in it as he rolled up his soaked sleeves.

“Mattsun and I are going to go,” Makki said with an unsure glance at Oikawa—it was returned with a nervous glance from the mermaid—, “Auntie is going to stay with you.” 

“Ok, bring back as much as you can. Use whatever is in our fishing shed,” Iwaizumi instructed as he turned on the spray and began to soak the part of Oikawa’s tail that didn’t fit in the tub.  The two nodded and left with half stern, half nervous glares at Oikawa who was still desperately staring at Iwaizumi.

“I’ll grab you a spare change of clothes.”  His mother didn’t even look at Oikawa as she left.   

“ _ Iwa-chan _ !” Oikawa pleaded, eyes big and sunken and staring into the very depths of his soul; desperation clinging to the usual twinkle that lived there. The glimmer of them made him uncomfortable— reminding him far too closely of the Siren that lives in his memories—but the color of them familiar enough to quell the anxiety that rose at the sight of them.

He opened his mouth to demand an answer, hardly a minute later, and Iwaizumi sighed, giving in far too easily, “It’s culling week, a mass movement too large for any of us to try and stop—not with you weakened anyway so don’t even think about it.”

“Culling  _ what _ ?”  Oikawa sounded panicked and while he knew that he had figured it out, there was a piece of him that seemed to understand that Oikawa was hoping that it wasn’t what he thought.  That Iwaizumi would be able to provide him with something more reassuring, like it was culling squids or jellyfish.  It wasn’t even jellyfish season.  

“You already know, don’t you?” Iwaizumi sighed softly, “A few years back some fishermen noticed an annual increase in siren—or mermaid—movement past our island at this time of year.  I told you before, a lot of people on this island have family that are like me, only they didn’t do nearly as well.  A lot of them don’t even know who they are anymore.  Revenge is...appealing, and during this time of year it’s obtainable.”

“I have to go!” Oikawa said in a panic, his tail flopping uselessly, albit powerfully, along the lip of the tub.  Water flooded over the edge and spilled across Iwaizumi’s feet; soaking his socks.  Oikawa’s weight was heavy enough that his large movements rocked the tub on its clawed feet—threatening an upheaval.  His arms slick with water made him lose traction and fall back into the bathwater with a splash that had his mother hurrying to a near flooded bathroom; the drain unable to handle the surplus of water.

“It’s too late!” Iwaizumi yelled as he tried to avoid the powerful muscle flipping through the air while simultaneously trying to reach for Oikawa’s shoulders, “You’ll just get caught too!” 

“Tetsu-chan is  _ out there _ !”  Oikawa screeched, his voice taking on an inhuman pitch making Iwaizumi’s ears ring sharply, “He’s waiting for  _ me _ !”  

Emotion that did not feel like his own made Iwaizumi feel dizzy and disoriented.  It was with an uncomfortable twist in his chest that Iwaizumi realized, it was from whatever Oikawa had been doing with his Heart.  He knew Oikawa had never listened to Iwaizumi and had instead continued to expose him to it, that much was obvious in how he felt, but he hadn’t thought it would affect him like this.  He wanted to be disgusted but was mostly overwhelmed with fear and the repetitive thought that it would be all his fault if Tetsu died.

“Oikawa  _ stop _ !” Iwaizumi yelled finally gripping Oikawa’s shoulders and keeping his upper body in place while the massive tail continued to thrash and press against the tile of the bathroom floor.  He expected Oikawa to ignore him.  Expected him to fight back with everything he had but what he didn’t expect was for Oikawa to whip his hand up and to squish Iwaizumi’s cheeks between his thumb and fingers.

“No  _ you _ stop,” the words were firm and sounded like an order as it made his spine shiver and crackle into a bent position, “You let. Me. Go. Iwaizoomi Hajime.” 

He could instantly tell that this was Oikawa trying to force him to do as he said.  Could feel the pleading tug of Oikawa’s power saturated Heart, that  _ this _ is what true power felt like.  How everytime he thought that Oikawa had been trying to bend him to his will and force him to do as he pleased by his Heart, that he had been irrevocably and completely incorrect.  The  _ power  _ that radiated from Oikawa’s words and straight into Iwaizumi’s brain,  _ that _ was what he should have been fearing all along.

Except, everything about it felt so familiar.  Like how Oikawa would ask him to buy an extra package of milk bread from the store before school.  Or in the way that he used those big disgusting doe eyes to get what he wanted.  Then if that didn’t work he’d do that thing where he whined and whined until he got his way.  Iwaizumi had a feeling that dismissing him would be just as easy when he looked into his wallet to see that if he bought the extra milk bread then he couldn’t afford to get both of them a coffee after practice.  Easy in the way that if he just rolled his eyes and kept walking those dumb watery doe eyes couldn’t affect him anymore.  Simple in the way that Oikawa’s whining was truly annoying and a sure fire way to get Iwaizumi to ignore him for the rest of the walk home. 

Oikawa’s biggest mistake was to let Iwaizumi become accustomed to his presence.  Now it was easy enough to squish Oikawa’s cheeks between his hands and smash his forehead onto the mermaids.  It stung of course, but it was totally worth it for the way that Oikawa crumbled in on himself; instantly releasing Iwaizumi in favor of clutching his forehead. 

“No,” Iwaizumi stated firmly, “ _ You _ stop.” 

Oikawa came back at him with teary eyes and a pained yell.  He had barely gotten his hands fisted into Iwaizumi’s ruined sweater when there was the sound of buckets hitting the tiling and Iwaizumi turned his head just in time to see Matsukawa, Hanamaki, and his mother all rush at them.  He didn’t have time to get a word out before Matsukawa had Oikawa pulled back in a physical hold—one arm bent in and pressed against his abdomen while Mattsun held Oikawa’s back against his chest.  His other arm wrapped so it came around Oikawa’s to the front where he was then able to cup the back of Oikawa’s neck, keeping the arm elevated and uselessly flopping—much like his too powerful tail.  

At the same time, Iwaizumi was pulled backwards—sliding on the wet tile in his wet socks—and he fell into Hanamaki’s lap, accidentally knocking the breath from his friends lungs with a misplaced elbow on their way down.  His mother was standing in front of him, square shouldered and chin held high towards Oikawa—whose nostrils were flaring with his futile attempts at freedom.  

“What the  _ fuck _ was that—,” Matsukawa growled into Oikawa’s ear, “What the fuck were you going to do to him?  Fucking  _ answer _ me!” 

A strange gurgling noise burbled off of the tiled walls and at first Iwaizumi thought it was Makki fighting to get his breath back after having Iwaizumi’s elbow in his diaphragm.  Except, when it happened again it came from the opposite direction and he had to pivot onto his hands and knees to look around his mother.

Oikawa had two sets of gills;  one on either side of his neck right where a normal humans lymph nodes would be, the second set were slit right in between his ribs where Iwaizumi assumed the lungs could be accessed if one dug far enough.  Both sets were flaring in and out, an inflamed red color, and thick bubbles would occasionally appear and pop from the ones cut into his chest.  If his pallor was bad before, now it was downright deadly, a very pale faintly purple color that jolted Iwaizumi into action.

“Mattsun put him under!”  Iwaizumi demanded, “He can’t breathe!”

“Did you stop to think that maybe that’s a good thing?” Mattsun snapped back.  

It was unnerving, the way he could feel Oikawa’s fear as he began to cough, water splashing out onto his chin and chest with each pained heave and stuttering choked gasps with movement from his chest.  Although he began to breathe from his lungs, which needed to be clear of water before they could be used in place of the gills, fear was still making Iwaizumi antsy.  Though he could tell it was not his own, it still made him feel as though he needed to jump into action despite the debilitating way those gills never ceased their harsh actions of opening and firmly closing on Oikawa’s body.  They appeared raw and too red to be comfortable.  

“Mattsun,” Iwaizumi was nearly begging because Oikawa’s pain was now starting to register to him over the fear.  He was scared and hurting—the status of his friend unknown and the knowledge that even if he was in trouble, he could do nothing to help in his current state, driving him to thrash madly in Matsukawa’s arms and crowd invasively into Iwaizumi’s mind, “Please, you need to let him breathe.” 

Then, all at once, the fear simmered down to nearly non-existent and Oikawa’s brown eyes held some semblance of relief.  Iwaizumi’s panic was a stark contrast to the mermaids relaxing muscles and wheeze of relief because he knew;  _ this  _ is what it was like to die.  He had, after all, experienced it more than once over the past 7 years.  The sudden drain of fear and pain, the embrace of sweet  _ nothing _ , and more than any of that was the solace one had in knowing it wasn’t going to come back; and that made it so much easier to let go. Iwaizumi would have started begging with Oikawa to keep fighting it if he hadn’t of seen Mattsuns horrified expression and eyes fixed on a point that was not Iwaizumi, his mother, or Makki.  

He had barely looked over his shoulder when he heard  _ the most  _ vicious growl he had ever experienced in his life, followed by the sound of bareskin slapping on his bathroom floor.  Scared stiff, Iwaizumi could only watch as a messy black haired _ naked monster _ lept clear over his mother’s head and landed on Mattsun, leaving Oikawa to slip back down to the bathwater.  The sound of Matsukawa’s choked panic jolted Iwaizumi out of his terror and before he could process his own actions he was tackling the messy haired man off of his friend.  

No sooner than he had taken the man off his feet was he overpowered and flipped to the floor.  Before the man could pin him, Iwaizumi had continued the inertia by rolling and got back on his feet.  Moving purely on instinct, he stepped back and dodged left barely missed the right hook heading towards his face.  Before the punch could follow through or be abandoned he stepped into the man’s space and threw his arm out, pushing the bed-heads up, giving Iwaizumi access to his unprotected right side where he jabbed his fist against the flesh just under his ribcage.

He expected the mans breath to leave him in one fell swoop providing Iwaizumi the opportunity to immobilize him.  However, instead of curling over with the involuntary response of losing one’s breath, the man moved inward and pushed Iwaizumi hard with his left side, unbalancing him.  From there it was an easy stretch for him to be caught with a hard right cross; which Iwaizumi was only barely able to defend his face against.  He hadn’t gotten his hands up in time and it  _ felt _ like his bones were creaking in strain as he blocked the punch.

It took everything he had to bring his aching hand up to fend off a second attack.  He ducked down into a crouch—effectively blocking a third attack—then sprung back up, putting all of his strength into his legs and absolutely nailed the man in a double hit against his chin and collarbone.  He followed up with a thrown elbow and hooking his foot around the man’s ankle and tripping him backwards.  He ended up practically lying on the man rather than pinning him but it was effective enough and the black haired monster was down; even if it was mortifyingly awkward to be lying on a naked man.  Once this blew over, he knew Makki and Mattsun would  _ never _ let him live it down.

Sound came back to him in a rush, first his own ragged breathing and then all at once was the yelling.  His mother, Makki, Mattsun, and Oikawa all yelling, arguing over each other accompanied by the splashing of water and scraping of shoes on the tile.  Then there was the snarling of the man below him.  For just a moment Iwaizumi was caught in the contrast between the man’s danger filled snarling and the fear and concern shimmering in his eyes.  In some stroke of luck—or more likely some supernatural happening with that stupid Heart Oikawa was always talking about—it clicked in Iwaizumi’s head that this creature below him was here for the stupid mermaid in his bathtub.  

“Oikawa.”  His breath made his voice strained and too quiet to be heard over the argument, “ _ Oikawa _ !”  He bit the words out, sharp and clear so that they reverberated in the room.

Silence pricked at his ears, only broken by the sound of his heavy breathing, the messy bed-heads near panicked breathing, and the occasional squeak from the soles of shoes.  His wrists hurt from where he had caught that punch wrong, his body was shaking with the adrenaline and more than any of that through some stupid connection he seemed to have with Oikawa he could feel a dry burning in his lymph nodes that didn’t correspond to his breathing in the slightest. 

“Iwa-chan, please don’t hurt him.” With Oikawa’s words the pain flared in his own throat and then in his ribs.  Since he knew what to look for he could see the inflamed red look to the heaving gills which were still floundering for water, despite Oikawa’s upper half being completely out of the tub.

“Get back under the fucking water,” Iwaizumi ordered, “you need to fucking breathe.” 

Oikawa looked hesitant, even as he began to inch back down to the water, “...it’s getting dirty,” he complained with a strained voice, eyes glancing towards the man Iwaizumi had pinned.

“I won’t hurt him so long as he stands down,” Iwaizumi sighed, wanting to rub at his forehead but unable to do so, “I’ll get the water changed soon too.  Makki could you turn the tap on? The idiot knocked out almost half of his bathwater.”  Makki’s face looked pinched but he did as he was asked, trying to stay at an arms length of Oikawa as much as he could. 

Oikawa pressed his lips together and Iwaizumi felt a small tickle of doubt as his eyes darted towards Mattsun but he nodded anyway.  He cooed out something in his native tongue, the sound rolling over his tongue more smoothly than anything Iwaizumi had heard him say previously. 

The mermaid below him huffed in disbelief and pointed a very angry frown at Oikawa, who disappeared below the surface of the water leaving behind only a few bubbles of air that popped at the surface and a distinct cooling sensation against Iwaizumi’s burning throat and chest. He sighed in relief and eyed the man he still had pinned.  Whatever Oikawa had done to him to make him  _ feel _ these things needed to be undone as soon as possible and he had a feeling the mermaid wouldn’t be able to do it without recovering somewhat first. 

“Okay I know what it looked like when you got here,” Iwaizumi started, “but it’s not like that.” 

“Sure it’s not ‘ _ like that’ _ ,” the man started with a snarl and Iwaizumi couldn’t help but quirk an eyebrow when he noticed that even pinned the man was still using air quotes, “not like  _ he  _ wasn’t choking the life out of my pr—” 

He knew he should have cared that the sentence wasn’t finished.  That it sounded important, but mostly he was just relieved that the other had shut up as his head was starting to hurt, “Look are you going to do what he says and stand down or am I going to have to restrain you so I can get that pile of shit some fresh water?”  

He was certain the stream of water that hit him in the back was because Oikawa could hear him.  He gave a resigned sigh but didn’t say anything against it.  He watched the mans internal debate flicker across his face before he side eyed his two friends and his mother; they looked very uncomfortable.  

“You guys too,” Iwaizumi said to the three of them, “you can’t do what you just did again.  Just calm down and stop trying to fight.” 

“Are you fucking  _ kidding _ me?” Makki snapped, “He was  _ attacking _ you!  You expect us to just  _ let it happen? _ ”  

“It wasn’t a real fight!” Iwaizumi snapped back, “It was more like self-defense, I’m not sure if you saw, but I hit him first.” 

An uncomfortable silence fell over them and his mom—ever the peacemaker—stepped forward and laid a hand on his shoulder, “Hajime, let him up.  Your knee is digging right where you hit him earlier.”  

“Be. Civil.” Iwaizumi ordered to everyone in the room as he leaned his weight off of the black haired man and stood on his own wobbly bare feet, “it’s too damn early for this,” he sighed, pinching the skin between his eyes.

“It’s evening, dear,” His mother interjected with a stretched uncomfortable looking smile, “not that early at all really.”

“Auntie,” Makki sighed, “any hour is too early for this.” 

Matsukawa silently held his hands out and Iwaizumi obediently placed his wrists in the open palms while they were assessed by the med student, “I need more buckets of seawater.  He said the water was getting dirty and the whole point of having him here is to not suffocate him so…”

“Call me paranoid but I don’t think leaving you and auntie with a psycho is the smartest thing to do,” Makki said with a frown and crossed arms.

“Mom, do you mind going with Makki?” Iwaizumi asked as his wrists were gently turned about and pressed upon. 

“Of course not,” his mother said despite the hesitance on her face; her eyes darted towards the now silent assailant, “but perhaps first we should...um, dress him?” She gestured to the naked man currently bent over the tub, a hand in the water like he was trying to make sure Oikawa was actually alright.  

“Um...yeah,” Iwaizumi agreed awkwardly, feeling his cheeks flush in embarrassment.  She curled a hand around his friends bicep and they left, walking quickly over the creaky planks of wood that made up their floor.  His mother came back with clothes that she strategically left on the bathroom stool for the mermaid to grab himself before she joined Makki at the front to leave. 

“Do they hurt?” Mattsun asked while gently stretching the appendages. 

“Not much.”  He received a knowing look.

“Don’t stress them,” Mattsun ordered, “get them looked at if it persists.” 

“What, you don’t count?” Iwaizumi asked with a dry smile as he walked away to turn on the spray to the shower running it over Oikawa’s tail. 

“You know I don’t.” Mattsun said, his calculating gaze sliding over towards the man regarding them with suspicion, “And you?” Mattsun nodded towards the man’s chest where Iwaizumi had jabbed him.

“I’m fine.” He answered shortly, eyes squinted narrowly as he looked between the two of them.  

Mattsun shrugged and picked up the clothes that his mother had left before tossing them to the grumpy man, “Put those on.”  After a moment of hesitation, the man did.

“Not that I think it’s going to be a problem or anything,” Iwaizumi started, “but I’m sure you know by now why neither of you should be leaving this house?” 

“If you’re referring to the bloodbath on these beaches, then that is  _ exactly _ why we must go out there and help,” The man snarled while adjusting the borrowed sleeves of Iwaizumi’s spare shirt.

Iwaizumi sighed and adjusted the sleeve of his sweater, “We,” he stated simply, “You mean to tell me, you’re going to take your weakened friend out to get him murdered?”  

Oikawa’s tail flopped and he started to sit back up like he was going to protest but one firm look from Iwaizumi had him settling back down in the tub.  They held eye contact for a moment—Iwaizumi trying to convince himself that Oikawa’s eyes, which glimmered like shards of glass floating in a sunlit tide pool, were nothing to panic over like a siren’s were.  He could trust that those eyes—inhuman as they were—they wouldn’t force him to do the bidding of another.  He could almost convince himself that they were nearly  _ pleasant _ , until a translucent inner lid slid across Oikawa’s eyes.  Logically he knew it must have been an inner eyelid that was useful for underwater  _ whatever _ , but he knew he pulled a disgusted looking face when Oikawa smirked and did it again and again. 

“If you think we’re ones to be defeated so easily then—,”

“—Oh I understand very well just how powerful you are,” Iwaizumi stated, pulling his gaze away from Oikawa’s gross party trick and staring down the hazel eyed man, “but what you don’t understand is that there are certain skills that islanders here have utilized to win.  I’m not saying you don’t have a chance, but it is significantly more slim than you think.  And if you think I’m about to let you take him out of here before it all blows over then you can expect to lose another fight.” 

“How romantic, Iwa-chan.” 

“Would you get back under the water!” Iwaizumi snapped feeling his cheeks heat up and he increased the pressure of the shower head so it was bouncing off of Oikawa’s tail in heavy strikes.

“Ooh~ A massage~”

He aimed the spray at Oikawa’s face, a pleased smirk emerging with the surprised yelp and disappearance of Oikawa’s face as he did. He turned the adjuster back to something more gentle with a wider spray before leveling the black haired mermaid with a flat look.

“You assume I’d go out with a tail.”

“You don’t need to for people to know what you are,” Iwaizumi retaliated, “Your legs haven’t fully dried, have they?” 

He saw the dark haired mermaids head jerk down as he took in his own state of disarray.  Thick red and black scales were still firmly embedded in his ankles and calves, visible where his borrowed knee length shorts couldn’t cover.  His toes still slightly stuck together and nearly translucent where fins should have been.  Thin lines were still fading from where his own gills had disappeared and a thin webbing still strung along between his fingers, broken only in a few places.  The man’s jaw clenched and Iwaizumi could physically see him calculating the time it would take for them to dry and fall off.  

“They’ll leave the beach in another hour,” Iwaizumi stated, “when the our storm warning goes into effect.”

“I forgot that was tonight…” Mattsun commented quietly as he pulled out his phone presumably to tell his mother where he would be staying through the night.

“Are you telling me to just sit back and let my people be  _ murdered _ ?!” 

“I’m trying to tell you to go out in an hour and a half to warn the rest of them not to pass by here tomorrow,” Iwaizumi stated feeling very much like a gardner with how he was watering Oikawa’s tail, “This happens every year and yet the route for your people never changes, don’t you think you should initiate some change?” 

“It’s normal for friends to leave for a few years during this time…” came the rebuttal with a clenched jaw.

“We had 28 cullings last year.” Iwaizumi stated simply, “Seems like a lot of people to decide now is a good time for a vacation.” 

“You know,” Mattsun butted in before a reply could be heard, “for someone who literally told us all to ‘ _ be civil’ _ not even 5 minutes ago, you aren’t being very civil, Iwaizumi.” 

“Aren’t I? I’m trying to help him!  Help  _ them _ .” 

“You’ve gone too far.”

“...Oh.”

“So,” Mattsun continued before the mermaid could speak again, “are we also supposed to call you  _ Tetsu-chan _ or are we going to have introductions at some point today?” 

Silence.

Oikawa poked his head up from the water just enough so that his gills were still under but that he could talk, “Iwa-chan, Mattsun, this is Tetsu-chan.  Tetsu-chan, Iwa-chan and Mattsun!” 

Tetsu-chan whipped a glare in Oikawa’s direction so fast Iwaizumi was certain he had some form of whiplash, even if he wasn’t letting it show.  He said something to Oikawa in whatever language was native to them.  Iwaizumi was used to the rounded bubbly sounds that Oikawa made when he spoke but he was not accustomed to the rough studded noises coming from the mermaid who had yet to move from his sitting position on the tiled floor. 

Oikawa rolled his eyes but addressed them flippantly, “Yes yes, his proper name is—,”

“—I can  _ do  _ it!” The man snapped, his utilization of Iwaizumi’s native tongue much more fluid than that of Oikawa’s, “My name is Kuroo.” 

“Just Kuroo?” Mattsun asked while sitting on a squat plastic stool in the room, his hand propped on his knee and under his chin, “Kuroo Tetsu-chan, then?”

“Just. Kuroo.” 

“If we can guess your given name can we use it?”  Makki teased, although Iwaizumi caught the calculating look in his eye.

“No.” 

“We could have matching nicknames, you could be Tettsun.” 

Iwaizumi couldn’t help his amused snort, “Sounds like a bad comedy sitcom.  Mattsun, Tettsun and you-ttsun.” 

“We could have our own rendition of  _ Chicago _ ,” Mattsun said slyly his grin stretching over his face.

“What’s Chicago?” Oikawa chirped looking absolutely  _ delighted _ .

“It’s a foreign musical,” Iwaizumi and Kuroo answered at the same time, both dismissive in their response.  They made eye contact feeling uncomfortable with the similarities in their responses and shared knowledge.

“Can we watch it?”

“ _ Tooru _ ,” Kuroo snapped looking stressed as he redirected his gaze to Oikawa.

Oikawa sighed and blew bubbles into the water for a moment, “Sorry about Tetsu-chan, he’s normally loads more fun.” 

“Do you even  _ remember _ what I talked to you about before?” Kuroo hissed finally approaching the tub so he could pressed a firm finger against the middle of Oikawa’s forehead, “We have  _ things _ to talk about and our people are being  _ murdered  _ while we sit here and do  _ nothing _ ! Or did you forget that when you were sending out those subconscious  _ distress signals _ ?”

“What would you have me do Tetsurou?” Oikawa said his voice and features suddenly very stern, a look Iwaizumi had only seen from him on the court when the situation was particularly intense, “Do you want to hear that you were right?  That I waited too long to get back in the water and how I starved my gills to the point of being unable to dry out?”

“No...I—” Kuroo’s finger fell from Oikawa’s forehead.

“Okay. You were right.” Oikawa said voice rising in volume just a hair, “I messed up. Now I’m stuck in some humans bathing prison while  _ my  _ people are murdered unable to do a thing about it.  Not even able to send out my trustworthiest of guards because I cannot guarantee his safety since he has no one to back him.”

“You don’t need to—,”

“—I  _ do _ need to.” Oikawa said firmly, “You’ll do as Iwa-chan says and go out in an hour and a half to send a messenger to reroute and to send notice of our absence.”

“Our  _ absence? _ ” 

“You had information you needed to share with me didn’t you?” Oikawa sighed, “I have a feeling you only brought it to me because you knew I would have to be more involved after learning what has happened.  I won’t have my decisions swayed and manhandled by the courts at home.  You’ll share with me here what it is I need to know and then I will make a decision.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Kuroo said, his eyes darting to Iwaizumi and Matsukawa. 

“I guess that doesn’t really matter, does it?” 

Kuroo only sighed and then threw his hands up in the air, “Alright you win.” 

Oikawa’s demeanor changed in an instant to bright smiles and curved eyes, “Don’t I always!” 

“I can’t help but feel like we missed something,” Makki said from the doorway with more buckets of seawater.

“Me too,” Iwaizumi said with a firm rub to his eyes.

Oikawa just smiled.  

Three more trips to the ocean for more water and they nearly had enough to fill the tub properly but Iwaizumi wanted to hold off on draining it until he was certain they’d be able to cover Oikawa’s gills efficiently. Oikawa however, seemed to think differently and had threatened him twice with just pulling the stopper to drain out the old water.  Iwaizumi had effectively held him off for a record breaking ten minutes before Oikawa started to get more serious.

“Iwa-chan,” the whining was getting louder, “I’m gonna pull the plug.”

“I won’t fill it if you do,” Iwaizumi retorted indifferently. 

“Tetsu-chan will do it,” Oikawa huffed.

“I dunno,” Kuroo sighed while stretching out his limbs, “my arms are just  _ so _ tired…”

Oikawa’s jaw dropped, appalled, “Tetsu-chan, you monster.”  

The bathroom fell silent save for the sound of the spray pitter-pattering against Oikawa’s scales and dripping onto the tile below.  It started as a small dismissive cough.  Then a slight gasp for breath that made Iwaizumi glance over to Oikawa who looked as if he were trying to clear something from his throat.  It continued in the actual clearing of a throat and then more coughing.  Iwaizumi was about to speak up when Oikawa’s gasping pleads came first.

“Iwa-chan please,” he tried to clear his throat again and his breathing clearly labored and eyes watery, “it’s dirty.” 

“Fuck,” Iwaizumi cursed as he took two steps over and uncaringly plunged his sweater clad arm into the bathwater to pull the plug,” Come on, sit up.” He hooked his arm around Oikawa’s shoulders at the same time as Kuroo.  He noticed the slightest jerk from the mermaid when they touched but neither of them commented on it as Iwaizumi slid his arm far enough that he wasn’t touching Kuroo but still supporting Oikawa.  His gills cleared the water and it was nearly instantaneous that he started to hack up cloudy water, one of his hands coming up to clutch at Kuroo’s forearm.

Iwaizumi was about to move to aim the spray of fresh water towards Oikawa’s gills but Kuroo put a hand out to stop him, “Don’t. Let him get all that crap out first.”

“Okay,” Iwaizumi agreed quietly, his own lungs aching as Oikawa wretched out another mouthful of dirty water.  It had started to take on a sheen of what Iwaizumi thought to be a slime but could have just as easily been Oikawa’s saliva.  It stuck to his cheeks and oozed down his chin to stretch down onto his chest.  Guilt clouded Iwaizumi’s chest like the milky white water clouded Oikawa’s lungs.  He should have drained the water faster and mixed the seawater with freshwater.  

Finally, Oikawa seemed to gag out the last of it, chest moving again with each breath, gills a livid red and heaving open.  Iwaizumi turned the spray to something quite gentle as Oikawa pressed his forehead against Kuroo’s forearm looking exhausted and feverish.  He quickly turned the water cooler and let it fall over the back of Oikawa’s neck, earning a relieved sigh. 

“Look here, Oikawa,” Iwaizumi requested, his voice uncharastically soft, forcing him to clear his throat in a thin hope that it would bring his voice back to normal.  Oikawa turned his head without lifting his forehead away from Kuroo’s forearm; forcing his hair to pull and stick to his sweaty skin.  

Iwaizumi brought the spray up to the lower half of Oikawa’s face, being mindful of his nose and eyes, and began to wipe away the filth sticking to his skin. It was gross and slick on his skin, taking more than a few wipes to clear away the mess from Oikawa’s face, neck, and chest so that he could wash it all down the drain in the tub with the rest of the small flecks of dirt and other filth.  He cleaned off his own hand then redirected the water to drizzle over Oikawa’s hair, where he pushed it back and away from his forehead until it was slicked back. 

“Iwa-chan is being so gentle,” Oikawa murmured, eyes soft and warm, “so unlike you.” 

Iwaizumi would forever deny that it made his heart jump in his chest and a blush rise to his cheeks, “Don’t get used to it.” 

Kuroo moved in then, dipping his head low until he could get Oikawa to lift his head just a touch so their foreheads were pressed together.  A gentle coo curled up from Kuroo’s throat and Oikawa answered it with words that Iwaizumi figured he would never be able to make sense of.  Kuroo made some sort of remark that Iwaizumi thought might be a sarcastic one if the sly smirk on his face was anything to go by.  He then tucked his head and ran his fuzzy bedhead underneath Oikawa’s chin before pulling back and pinching at Oikawa’s nose; an action that won him a cute laugh that Iwaizumi had yet to hear. 

It was all startlingly intimate. 

Despite feeling out of place in his own bathroom, Iwaizumi plugged the tub and awkwardly offered the shower head to Kuroo.  It was taken with a smug grin and an eyebrow raise.  It was almost as if he were being challenged.  Iwaizumi was never one to turn down a challenge but in this instance, he wasn’t entirely certain what the challenge  _ was _ and Oikawa needed those buckets of seawater.  He gave Kuroo a suspicious glare, not trusting him in the slightest, as he reached behind him to pull a bucket forward. He had just finished emptying the final bucket when his mother and Makki returned, drenched and shivering with their final buckets of seawater.

“The storm started to pick up a little bit early,” his mother started while dumping her bucket in the tub then trying to get her wet hair out of her face, “everyone’s already left the beach.” 

“If you want to go, now would be the best time,” Makki added to Kuroo while dumping in his own bucket.  Iwaizumi knew the sound of a dismissal when he heard one; it seemed like Kuroo did too.

“I don’t trust any of you with him.”

“After all this time with our dear soft hearted Hajime?” Makki pouted but his eyes were cold as he wrapped his arms around Iwaizumi’s neck and pressed their cheeks together.

“Stop it—get off!” Iwaizumi protested while trying to push Makki’s cold wet face and body away from his.  

“Trust doesn’t come so easily,” Kuroo countered.

“Tough titties,” Makki shrugged, “I don’t know what you’re going to do then.  Not like you can just up and move this whole bathtub and a mermaid to take with you.” 

“Shouldn’t I do exactly that?” Kuroo countered while Oikawa rolled his eyes and sunk down into the tub with a pleased smile, “unless you’re planning on making bucket trips all night so he doesn’t choke to death on his own ammonia.”  

Iwaizumi’s stomach twisted, the idea of Oikawa being taken away made him incredibly unsettled—even though he couldn’t figure out why.  He was reluctant to do so but it was a good point.  Oikawa couldn’t feasibly stay in the bathtub all night.  They would have to make frequent trips to the ocean for fresh seawater; or rig a pumping system to the tub.  Neither of which would hold as they were due for a storm.  They would either get injured in collecting buckets of water or whatever half assed pumping system they could get together in the next hour would be blown away and torn to pieces.

“Now isn’t a good time to move him,” Iwaizumi heard himself saying, “he needs to rest more and we should make sure there aren’t any other fishermen on the beaches.  It wouldn’t be any good for him to be brought to the water just to be pulled out and…” 

“... _ Fine _ .” Kuroo conceded after looking at Oikawa’s exhausted expression and curled arms as he tried to get comfortable in the tub, tail flopping wetly on the bathroom floor as he turned, “I’ll be back in 20 minutes.  Oikawa if anything happens you call me like you did before, okay?”  

Oikawa pushed himself up until his mouth was above the surface of the water, “Sure Tetsu-chan. Whatever you say.” 

Iwaizumi chopped his hand down on the top of Oikawa’s head before a response could be made, “You brought him here?  I told you not to bring him to my home, you ass.”

He wished his words could have had the bite he had intended for them to hold; instead of the soft teasing that had accompanied them on habit.  Still, Oikawa pouted and made a big show out of the pain he was in from being  _ bullied _ and how it “wasn’t his fault, it was subconscious.” Iwaizumi rolled his eyes but couldn’t stop the grin on his face or the laugh in his voice.  When he turned around to shoo Kuroo out the door he was met with wide eyes from his friends and mother.

“...What?” He questioned a little worried but mostly confused.

“Nothing!” Makki nearly squeaked.

“Nothing at all,” Mattsun said in wonder.

“I was just...going to grab us all a spare set of clothing and make some food,” his mother said warmly but with a soft note of surprise in her tone, “Does chowder sound good to everyone?” 

“If it’s Auntie’s food it’ll be the best!” Oikawa chirped like he wasn’t some giant fish in a tub of a human’s home, “Shoo, shoo Tetsu-chan!  The faster you are the faster you can try Auntie’s  _ amazing _ cooking!”  

Kuroo sighed but hurried out of the house while Iwaizumi’s mother set off to grab them all dry clothing.  Mattsun left to help prepare food and Makki sat down in the entryway of the bathroom while Iwaizumi took a seat on the stool by the tub.  He crossed his arms over the edge of the tub and laid his head down on them.  Oikawa reached up and gently pressed a finger to the top of Iwaizumi’s hand.  He let it fall into the water without thinking, his pinky curling around Oikawa’s. 

He only realized he had dozed off when his mother shook his shoulder and pressed warm clothes against his face.  She ushered him out of the room to dry off and change before she took off to the kitchen to direct Mattsun. Iwaizumi changed and dropped his wet clothes in what appeared to be the “ruined clothes” pile that had built up by the washing machine. He returned to the bathroom warm and sleepy, taking his seat back on the bench and the shower head to wet Oikawa’s rapidly drying tail.  

There was a sort of tense silence as they waited for Kuroo’s imminent return.  When he did return, he was just as soaked and cold as Oikawa seemed to be.  His mother offered towels and gave a pointed look to Hajime to lend him  _ more _ clothes.  He was reluctant to lend his things to a mermaid but he supposed…if he was with Oikawa it should be...fine.  Besides it seemed like Oikawa had some sort of power or sway over Kuroo and Iwaizumi had some sort of sway with Oikawa so in a very removed and remote sort of way, Iwaizumi had sway over Kuroo too? 

He stopped thinking about it and just handed over some of his clothes while his mother started to dish out chowder for everyone.  Dinner was awkward and silent in the bathroom; much like in the way that it was when it was just Iwaizumi and his mother eating at the table when their father’s birthday came around.  Or the anniversary of the day he went missing.  Dishes were collected after they had been emptied, refilled, and emptied again and another tense silence settled over them.  Until Makki cleared his throat.

“So, probably time to address the elephant in the room…”

“Excuse you!” Oikawa gasped, offended, “I may have gained some muscle weight with my tail  _ Makki-chan _ but calling me an  _ elephant _ is not only biologically  _ incorrect _ but I am  _ not _ that heavy!”  

Iwaizumi couldn’t help his snorted laughter, which broke the tension in the air and suddenly they were  _ all _ laughing.  Well, except Oikawa who was looking more angry and embarrassed with each passing minute.  Iwaizumi would have said something but he was too busy clutching at his stomach and trying not to laugh so hard he vomited. Dinner was good, but nothing tasted good a second time.

“It’s an expression, Oikawa,” Kuroo cackled—and what a _laugh_ _he_ had!  It ended up setting them all off again and it took a full minute before the expression could be explained to Oikawa who only wanted to move on at that point—trying to save himself some embarrassment. 

“ _ Anyway _ ,” Oikawa said loudly, chin raised so he could try to look down his nose at people who were now taller than he was, “I need to get to the ocean for the next...day or two and Tetsu-chan needs to follow.”

“Right well I think we deserve a few answers here,” Mattsun said seriously, sombering the mood significantly. 

“I’m sure Iwa-chan would be glad to answer them.”

“You’re involved in this too,” Makki said firmly, “You’re the center piece here.  If you never would have shown up, nothing would have happened.” 

“Rude.” Oikawa huffed, but Iwaizumi was starting to realize he was nervous, “If I hadn’t of shown up, Iwa-chan would still be a mental  _ mess _ .”

“So why did you show up?” Iwaizumi asked, “you said you came for the statue but we visited that ages ago.  You’re still here so what gives?”

“Aww Iwa-chan are you saying you don’t want me?” 

Iwaizumi didn’t respond.  Willing to wait out his opponent whom he knew would crack if he didn’t give into his goading.  Sure enough Oikawa did give in with a pout and a sigh as he crossed his arms on the lip of the tub where Iwaizumi’s had been only an hour before. 

“I became invested in the study of wildlife on the surface,” Oikawa answered simply.

“You mean humans,” Mattsun stated bluntly.

“Among other things,” Oikawa answered, his gaze sliding to Iwaizumi. He didn’t like what that pointed gaze implied. 

“You’re saying you came up here to visit a statue, fuck around with human lives, and leave? Just for your—what? Curiosity?” Makki snapped.

“Are humans any different?” Oikawa countered, “Diving into our homes and overfishing our food supplies.  Stealing our friends to slay or sell? I would say that is far worse than satisfying one’s curiosity.” 

“What was interesting enough to make you stay?” Iwaizumi’s mother asked, looking firm in her decisions — whatever they may be. 

“What do you think, Auntie?” Oikawa asked with a pained smile.

“When will your kind leave my family—my  _ baby  _ alone?” The words were nothing more than a whisper but the pain and years of hardship made their weight too heavy.  

“I’ll take him away today,” Kuroo answered swiftly much to Oikawa’s gaping protest—though Iwaizumi could see the open hurt on his face, no matter how hard Oikawa tried to hide it. 

Iwaizumi’s stomach knotted again. 

“What were you talking about before?” Iwaizumi blurted out, “When you mentioned your people dying.  It didn’t seem like either one of you was referencing the cullings—just on a hunch—but that it was something else? And you said you had talked before so I’m assuming you’re the mermaid from the peer…”  He trailed off not really knowing where he was going with this line of thought or why he had blurted it out in the first place. 

“Don’t try to get involved in something that’s far over your head, human,” Kuroo said cooly, a hand on his hip.

“Just a war, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa said nonchalantly. 

“Oikawa!” Kuroo groaned, “Are you seriously not trying to keep anything under wraps?”

“Do we need to?” Oikawa countered, “You want me to leave the humans and for them to not pursue us, right? Well what do college aged humans hate? War. It just so happens to be the truth as well.  Besides what are they going to do? Scuba to war?” 

“I don’t believe this,” Kuroo sighed. 

“A war with who?” Mattsun asked.

“Sirens,” Oikawa answered with a tired flop of his hand as if any of this were just trivial information that could mean less to him. 

Things began to click into place for Iwaizumi.  Oikawa, he knew, seemed to shirk on things he found boring or unneeded, like Iwaizumi’s classes or formalities.  Instead, he tended to gravitate towards things that appealed to his interests, like shopping, volleyball, or annoying Iwaizumi — _ especially _ that.   Except he did seem to have a sense of duty for things he saw importance in, like that statue.  

Oikawa was using them as a distraction, something shiny and sparkly that could capture his attention while the war that he had already deemed unworthy of his attention could sit on the back burner. Was he just hoping that it would all go away?  Didn’t he know that all distractions had a time limit? 

“Why Iwaizumi?” Makki demanded, looking uncharastically cold and impersonal.  

“Did you know,” Oikawa started, “Iwa-chan and I met when he was running around in a typhoon?” 

“Yes...from there we were told you were shipwrecked.” 

“Why wouldn’t you take interest in such an idiot?” Oikawa asked bluntly and Iwaizumi pretended like the words didn’t hurt.  Judging from Oikawa’s knowing glance swimming with just enough guilt for Iwaizumi to see before it was swallowed up in the air of his facade, Oikawa knew how his words affected him, “Humans are such fragile creatures comparatively.  They’ve got to be made of something particularly interesting to run around in such weather and come out with few injuries.”

“I had a concussion,” Iwaizumi cut in, feeling that it was important information and he wasn’t as much of a freak as Oikawa was making him out to be, “according to you.”

“It is a part of my duties to clean up after siren’s messes,” Oikawa stated looking more and more distant with each word passing through his chapped lips, “I was only performing my duty.” 

Logically Iwaizumi knew there was a cover up in those words.  He could see the lies in the way that Oikawa refused to look at him anymore.  It was evident in the way that even Kuroo had started to look uncomfortable and how Oikawa’s normally at ease appearance was tense and forced; his fingers periodically relaxing and clenching at the side of the tub. More than that he could feel it in the odd connection he still had with Oikawa, in the way that guilt clouded his chest despite the fact that he had nothing to feel guilty over.  

Because he could feel that, he knew Oikawa could feel the panging hurt he felt within his own chest.  The pain and betrayal because no human could spend a month with someone at their side for every waking and sleeping minute and  _ not _ get attached.  It was what humans did; get attached to things that they shouldn’t have any business with.  Like cute sea creatures sent only to cause mayhem in the lives of others. 

And Iwaizumi? He was irrevocably attached to said mermaid of all things. How it happened, not even he could be certain, but Oikawa had grown on him.  Like some sort of unwanted ingrown hair that had to be surgically removed. Or like algae on freaking  _ everything _ . 

“You goddamn  _ bastard _ ,” Matsukawa spat as he stomped up to grab for a shirt that didn’t exist, and instead changed to punch Oikawa at the last second.  Something Iwaizumi knew to look for and had already moved to intercept him before he could bring his fist forward.

“Mattsun,” He said lowly, firmly.  They didn’t need another fight with Kuroo.  He knew Oikawa would have accepted the punch, probably thought he deserved it —probably  _ did _ deserve it—but Kuroo would have to retaliate; like any good friend would, “don’t.”

“Are you fucking with me?” Mattsun snarled, emotion washing over his face in tides making his lips tremble and his brow to scrunch together, “He never  _ cared _ !  About any of it! About  _ you _ ! Don’t you get what he’s  _ saying _ Hajime?”  

Iwaizumi felt the swirling self-hatred, guilt, and overwhelming sadness pushing down on his very being like a physical weight and understood  _ exactly _ what Oikawa was saying, “It’s not really a problem, right?” 

Mattsun, not expecting such an answer turned to face Iwaizumi; his features still twitching sporadically as if they weren’t sure what they were supposed to be doing now that proper emotion was registering over Matsukawa’s face, “What do you mean?”  His muscles settled for shocked. 

“Aside from the fact that we were only pretending to date and it never meant anything from the start?” Iwaizumi asked flatly, “Well ever since you found out he was a mermaid, none of the past month mattered to you anymore, right?” He stated pointedly, each word feeling dry in his mouth because this was it.  Oikawa was going to hop into the ocean with Kuroo and disappear from his life.  A scant existence but one that Iwaizumi was going to remember for the rest of his days, “He says he’ll go so that’s good isn’t it? We’ll be mermaid free.  We can focus on our next training match.  Go back to our lives as college students because we never even left them.  The only thing that will change is the shipwreck survivor will finally have means to go back home.  Not even big enough news for our small islands newspaper to print.”

Now it was his turn to feel the pain reverberating back at him from whatever this annoying connection was. He felt like he needed to shake off the extra emotions.  Shudder until they chipped away from his skin and away to the ground to be swept up into the corner for the rest of time. It took everything he had not to look at Oikawa.  Not to look at Kuroo and try to read exactly what  _ he  _ thought of this situation.   

“...Iwaizumi…” Now it was Makki speaking up from behind him, an incredibly pained expression on his face that Iwaizumi couldn’t place a reason for. 

“No sense in putting in all this effort to keep them from dying so they can wait until the storm dies down,” Iwaizumi said, ignoring Makki in favor of tuning into the sounds of a building storm outside, “is that alright, mom?” 

“Of course, dear,” his mother said with a forced smile.  She looked pale and guilt twisted in his chest for distressing her.  

“Okay,” he agreed quietly before turning to walk to his mother.  He cupped her face in his hands and offered her a tired smile of his own despite feeling nothing like his usual self.  He felt void of emotion, empty of his own thoughts or choices as he pressed a kiss to her forehead, “Go try for some sleep, okay?” He murmured the words against her skin wishing that he could take the hurt away. 

“Are you—”

“—I’ll be just fine.  We’ll all be...just. Fine,” he offered another tired smile, “I love you.”  While he meant the words they felt hollow even as he he followed up with, “Goodnight.” 

“Goodnight, Hajime,” she had to get on her tippitoes to reach his forehead and he bent his spine so she could press her lips to his forehead in the same manner.  She gave a firm look to both Makki and Mattsun before giving an equally stern but cautious look to Oikawa and ignoring Kuroo completely, turning to her own room and leaving.

An awkward silence fell over the room as Iwaizumi turned back to face everyone, not sure where to go from there.  The storm wouldn’t blow itself out for another few hours, possibly into morning.  That was a lot of time to spend with someone whom you had just dismissed in every sense but the physical. 

“Can we talk?” Hanamaki asked, each word enunciated in a sharp staccato as he and Matsukawa both grabbed on of his arms and pulled him backwards from the bathroom. 

“Keep—keep his tail wet!” Iwaizumi called, like an idiot, to Kuroo as he was pulled into his living room.  He heard Kuroo’s snort before he was pulled out of earshot of the bathroom. 

“Just so we’re clear,” Makki started as they threw Iwaizumi back onto the couch, “this  _ is _ an intervention.” 

They both loomed over him with arms crossed and stern faces, “Um, okay,” Iwaizumi responded absently as he shifted to get comfortable. 

“You like him,” Matsukawa stated factually.  

The statement startled him, making him feel a bit more like himself again.  Just enough for him to feel another pang of hurt in his chest.  He didn’t want to admit it.  It seemed to unfamiliar and too outrageous to say he liked a mermaid.  He pinched his lips together for a moment before responding, “He was a good...distraction to spend time with for the past month.” 

“Don’t give us that half assed shit,” Hanamaki said sharply, “You like him.” 

“It’s been a month,” Iwaizumi stated with a sigh, “Can you really like anyone in a month?” 

“Great, so with that established,” Makki started before a sigh took out all of the tension in his body and he deflated, sitting down next to Iwaizumi and resting his head on his shoulder, “where do we go from here?”

“What do you mean?” Iwaizumi asked hesitantly, unsure of what they wanted from him as Matsukawa sat beside him as well.

“Maybe it’s not obvious to you, how you feel about him,” Matsukawa started, “but, just like you said earlier, for us it’s obvious to see when you’ve seemed more yourself this past month than in the past 7 years. You’ve actually smiled more than twice—genuine smiles—hell you even laughed an hour ago.”

“Um…” He wasn’t sure how to carry this conversation on. He felt like they were blowing things out of proportion.  Sure, he hadn’t really been himself through the years and he had felt more himself in the past month but...it couldn’t possibly be as bad as they were trying to make it seem.  Surely, he had actually laughed in the past 7 years? Just once?

“You’re already going distant again with just the mention of him leaving,” Makki said with a weak smile, “How do we help you this time, Hajime?” 

“I’ll be fine,” Iwaizumi started with a stretched grin, trying to be reassuring, “really.  You don’t have to do anything but what we’ve been doing, it’ll all be okay.” 

“Yeah because that worked out so well in the past,” Matsukawa stated dryly.

“Didn’t it though?” Iwaizumi cautiously pressed.  Afterall he was still living so that was...fine.  Perhaps it wasn’t the best and he wasn’t all himself, but they were all still together, taking classes, playing volleyball...joking around.

“No, Iwaizumi,” Makki answered, “Not at all.” 

He wasn’t sure what to say again.  He scoured his memory of a time before Oikawa where he had felt as in control of his own life through the past month as opposed to before but he was coming up blank.  Not even Mamaw’s pills were helping him to feel this  _ normal _ but still, he hadn’t thought his condition was particularly  _ bad _ .  Bad, afterall, was Iwaizumi being hospitalized or outcasted to the furthest reaches of the island with the rest of the Siren victims who had lost themselves.  Aside from the first year and a half he hadn’t had to go back to the hospital—a miracle case by their standards—and he had only  _ seen _ the outskirts where the outcasts lived as a reminder to why he had to fight so hard sometimes.  To him, things were going pretty good.

To be told that wasn’t the case at all made him feel like all his hard work to keep himself running, to continue to have a normal life, and to have friends, a family, goals...all of that seemed wasted.  Like his effort wasn’t good enough.  Like  _ he _ wasn’t good enough. He had to fight the tears pooling in his eyes because everything felt so goddamn  _ pointless _ . 

“What the fuck do you  _ want _ from me then?” Iwaizumi asked hoarsely, pushing Makki off of his shoulder and brushing them aside while he stood and paced the living room, “I don’t know what the fuck else I’m supposed to  _ do! _ ” 

“Let us fucking  _ help _ you,” Matsukawa hissed, eyes narrowed and hands in tight fists.

“Tell us what you need from us because we obviously don’t know enough to help you...let us do for you what Oikawa’s been doing.”

“You can’t.” Iwaizumi heaved out a sigh, trying to force out his overflowing emotions with a harsh breath.

“We can’t if you don’t let us try!” Makki snapped, “Oikawa is leaving, okay?  Maybe that’s for the best—”

“—It’s for the best,” Matsukawa stated.

“So you have to have someone else to lean on.  We’ve been your friends long enough, don’t you think?  What the fuck is so hard about leaning on us a little bit and letting us help you?” Makki was yelling now, tears building in his eyes, “Do you even know how useless it feels to watch your best friend die little by little everyday without being able to do anything about it?!  Now that you finally know what’s good enough to help you we can help too!”

“You just have to let us,” Mattsun finished softly. 

“You can’t help him like Tooru does.”  Kuroo’s voice sounded from the entryway to the living room and Iwaizumi directed his attention to him feeling moderately embarrassed at the tears in his and his friends eyes...like they couldn’t get a grip for more than 20 damn seconds. 

“Who fucking  _ asked _ you!” Makki snapped and Mattsun laid a calming hand on his shoulder.

“Why not?” 

“Because humans can’t manipulate their Heart,” Kuroo answered simply.

“He means,” Iwaizumi started, “that Oikawa has been using some sort of supernatural like  _ energy _ to help keep me in my own head.  I told him to stop but it seems like he didn’t listen.” 

“Oh, it’s not him kitten,” Kuroo argued with a teasing lilt, “You’re the one sucking up all his heart like a starved reef bed.”

“What?” All three of them questioned in confusion.

“Might be best just to show you, ya?” Kuroo sighed but seemed to be amused, “and stop making him freak out,” he pointed to Iwaizumi while addressing Makki and Mattsun, “You’re making Tooru react too.” 

“What’s wrong with Oikawa?” Iwaizumi asked, peering into the hallway as if that alone would let him see into the bathroom.

“What do you mean, show us?” Matsukawa asked suspiciously.

Kuroo walked to Iwaizumi, “You’re familiar with it, right?” He had a small bead of a glowing red bubble wobbling on the tip of his finger.  Iwaizumi recognized the consistency from what Oikawa had shown him on the courtyard at the college when he was explaining how humans were absorbent compared to other living things. 

“Um, yeah,” Iwaizumi answered even though he still felt uncomfortable about the Heart itself. 

“Do you mind?” Kuroo offered out his other hand and Iwaizumi hesitated a moment before placing the back of his hand in Kuroo’s palm, “This, kiddies, is what we call Heart.” 

“What are you going to do?” Makki looked ready to jump Kuroo with Mattsun as his back-up so Iwaizumi shook his head, hoping to calm them down enough to listen to Kuroo.  Even though just touching Kuroo’s skin made him feel 18 kinds of paranoid and itchy.

“Now, Heart is a manifestation of one’s energy and life force. It’s something that lies innate in all living creatures, but some can’t manipulate it.  Like humans.  To make things simple, Heart has some basic properties like manipulation and persuasion, or the ability to influence.  These separate forces are utilized naturally by some creatures, like mermaids and Sirens.  A Siren’s innate ability will manipulate you into doing their bidding while a mermaid’s natural strength lie in the influence or persuasion.  Are you still with me?” 

“Are you going to force Iwaizumi do something?” Makki asked suspiciously, guard back up.

“Of course not,” Kuroo sighed, “I’m not a  _ barbarian _ .  I am a  _ gentleman _ .”

“That could be debated,” Matsukawa sassed.

Kuroo laughed, something none of them expected, “Fair point. Now, just because a Siren’s inherent skills lie in manipulation doesn’t mean they can’t  _ learn _ to use the persuasion effect.  Just like mermaids can learn to manipulate.  Now this is all on a very basic level so don’t try to make it a one or the other type thing here.” 

“Is this really necessary?” Iwaizumi asked tiredly while twitching his fingers that were held in Kuroo’s hand.  He was starting to get antsy, his mind working itself up into overdrive.

“Hush,” Kuroo barely addressed him before carrying on, “Now, moving onto why Iwaizumi is like the sponge of the drylands.”

“Hey!”

“ _ Hush _ ,” Kuroo insisted, “Most living things will absorb Heart.  Any Heart.  However, it usually takes a bit of time depending on what type of creature is absorbing the heart.  Take for instance this nice house plant.”

Kuroo gestured to the plant on Iwaizumi’s shelves—the succulents his mother tended to—and tipped his finger to let the wobbling ball of heart drop onto the leaves of the plant.  It was slow, as it sunk into the flesh of the plant.  Taking nearly a full 30 seconds before it was completely taken in, and Iwaizumi could have  _ sworn _ the plant looked livelier than before. 

“Heart has an effect on anything it interacts with,” Kuroo stated, “this is important.  You can see it in the plant, ya? How it looks healthier—not that it was even dying to begin with but just that it is  _ thriving  _ instead of simply living.  Heart can have this effect on it, or it can kill the plant altogether.”

“...What determines the effect?” Matsukawa asked steadily. 

“The users intent,” Kuroo answered with a small nod of his head as if he were proud that a question had been asked, “You see, as you call your heart forward, you have to have an intent—a purpose—in mind.  In this case, my intent was to help the plant thrive.” 

“So then...for Iwaizumi?” 

“Not so fast there kiddo,” Kuroo said to Makki with a waggle of his finger, “First, we have to address human beings as a whole. Humans are one of the most absorbent beings we’ve ever documented. They can hold very dense amounts of Heart with little to no side effects, unlike most other living creatures.  For example, if I pump enough of my Heart into that plant it could start to become sentient.  It could also explode.  Fifty-fifty really.”

“Comforting,” Iwaizumi said dryly, wondering why Kuroo was holding his hand despite not actually doing anything with it.

“Very,” Kuroo commented just as dryly, “However, pump too much into a human and while they too could explode, insanity is often documented.  That one is more of a 80-20 and as long as there isn’t  _ malicious  _ intent in the Heart, that is the  _ only _ effect towards humans.”

“Which is the 80?” Makki asked.

“Not important,” Kuroo chided, making Iwaizumi realize the exploding was definitely the 80.  He shared a knowing look with his friends, “Now who wants to be the brave soul that compares their absorption rate to good ‘Ol Iwaizumi here?” 

“Yeah, I will,” Matsukawa offered with almost no hesitation as he stepped forward and boldly offered his hand out. 

“Great!” Kuroo chirped before another droplet of red heart wobbled into existence on his finger, “Now I’ve only heard about this ‘magnificent rate’ from Tooru so let’s all pay close attention.”

“Right,” Makki agreed hesitantly, standing where he could see. 

“Okay here we go,” Kuroo said dramatically before letting the small bead fall into Mattsun’s palm.  

Already, Iwaizumi could see the difference between himself and Mattsun.  When Oikawa had dropped a bead of his own heart to Iwaizumi, it was instantaneous.  The Heart had immediately disappeared and he had felt it trace all the way up to his forehead.  For Mattsun, the heart seemed to slowly sink into his skin, taking roughly ten long seconds.  The light of the heart disappeared by the time it reached his wrist but Iwaizumi knew that it had also settled behind Mattsun’s forehead because that’s where his hand flew to after a few uncomfortable seconds. 

“How...how do you feel?” Makki asked hesitantly, eyes just as wide as Mattsun’s.  

“Hopefully calmer,” Kuroo answered with a shrug, “that was my intent.”

“It is...persistent,” Matsukawa answered.

“Like an itch that just won’t go away?” Iwaizumi asked, feeling very much the same in regards to the Heart that Oikawa had left in him.  He had to shift on his feet just to dispel the feeling that describing it caused.  It wasn’t very helpful. The feeling only grew into something more insistent. 

“Yes...a very persuasive itch.” 

“But do you feel calmer?” Kuroo asked impatiently, “It’s important to note the success rate of my own Heart usage you know.” 

“...Yes….I feel...less stressed.”  Iwaizumi couldn’t relate.  The longer Kuroo kept ahold of his hand the more ansty he became. 

Kuroo hummed thoughtfully and took a minute to take in Matsukawa’s conflicting appearance with his wide eyes and shaking hands but otherwise calm features and even breathing, “So that was our control, now let’s look at our abnormal little human.” 

“I  _ do _ take offense to that,” Iwaizumi huffed before offering his finger out, wondering if perhaps Oikawa’s heart just reacted with him differently and he would be like Mattsun with Kuroo’s Heart.

“You’ll live,” Kuroo shrugged before pulling up another bead of Heart, just as big and wobbly as the one he dropped in Mattsun’s hand, “Maybe.” 

They watched with bated breath as Kuroo let it touch the tip of Iwaizumi’s finger and just as it did with Oikawa’s, Kuroo’s Heart zipped up through his arm and into his forehead in an instant.  Perhaps barely a second of time where he felt it settle behind his forehead and he felt uncomfortable.  LIke there were too many things in his head.  It made his stomach churn and his head spin. 

“Holy shit,” he heard the whisper from under Kuroo’s breath and the sharp intake of air from both Makki and Mattsun, “that  _ is _ strange.” 

Kuroo got a mystified look on his face before it hardened into curiosity.  He dropped Iwaizumi’s hand before grabbing at it again.  Then repeated the motion.  He grabbed for Matsukawa’s hand and hummed thoughtfully before dropping it and repeating the motion with Makki’s hand. 

“How...do you feel?” Makki asked Iwaizumi, perhaps recognizing that he—unlike Mattsun—did not seem calmer. 

“Anxious...uncomfortable,” Iwaizumi answered honestly.  

“Uncomfortable?” Three voices echoed back. 

“I thought you said you were going for calming?” Makki asked, his voice rising in pitch and Iwaizumi thought he saw the beginnings of panic on his face, “I swear to god if you did anything to him that might fuck anything up I’ll fuck  _ you _ up!” 

Wordlessly, Kuroo snatched Makki’s hand and dropped a small bubble of Heart on his palm.  They watched as it too took a good ten seconds to sink into his skin and disappear into his wrist before Makki’s free hand touched at his forehead. His features immediately began to smooth out into something slightly calmer.  

“Interesting,” Kuroo said softly, under his breath, his own hand coming up to cup at his chin, “and I barely noticed you sucking away at my Heart the whole time we were holding hands but the difference became profound when I let go.” Kuroo said directing his words at Iwaizumi.

“I...I’m confused. I wasn’t trying to take anything from you,” Iwaizumi stumbled over his words, the world feeling too loud and overwhelming and he pressed his fingers to his temple. 

“Oikawa mentioned it before.  He said that he has to actively concentrate on keeping his Heart to himself if you are touching and if he gets even the smallest bit distracted, you start to subconsciously pull at him,” Kuroo explained, “It’s very subtle.  I doubt he noticed at all for the first few weeks.”

“I thought you said human’s can’t manipulate Heart.” Matsuakawa pointed out.

“They can’t,” Kuroo said simply and Iwaizumi was reminded of how Oikawa looked at him in the bathroom when he was explaining why he had stayed.  He had specifically said  _ “among other things _ ” while looking right at Iwaizumi...that couldn’t be a coincidence...could it? 

“Are you trying to suggest that I’m not human?” Iwaizumi gasped, feeling very much too overwhelmed.  He felt like scrubbing at his head to get out the invading presence he felt there.  Everything was too much and not enough all at once.  

“Well it  _ is _ odd,” Kuroo huffed, with his hands on his hips before his eyes narrowed, “...how are you feeling now?” 

“Fuck, shut up,” Iwaizumi gasped unable to take it any longer; grasping at either side of his head. Everything was overwhelming and all too much and he felt lost in his own thoughts, “shut up.  _ Shut. up! _ ”  

Everything was too loud, too intense, and overwhelmingly insistent. Kuroo telling him, be calm; Oikawa telling him be healed, be strong, be at ease, sleep soundly, be healthy, listen, slow down, be still; and the voice of the siren ordering him to run faster, dive in, dive  _ down _ , don’t come up.  Too many conflicting feelings with too many conflicting  _ orders _ .  He didn’t know what he was supposed to feel but whatever it was, it was too  _ loud _ . 

“Shit, okay fuck,” Kuroo’s voice was annoying.  Overbearingly loud and too panicked, “I think we are teetering on that 20% here.”

“Are you saying he’s going to explode?” Makki sounded downright panicked and while logically Iwaizumi knew the hands touching him belonged to Makki they made everything go further into sensory overload and he pushed as hard as he could to get them off of him.  Not really registering that the heavy thump that followed after was Makki falling flat on his ass. 

“No, the exploding was the 80...this is the crazy.” 

“Iwaizumi—hey listen,” Matsukawa started and Iwaizumi had to stop him too.  It was too much to listen to them.  Too much to have more input when there was already so much.

“Stop bossing me around!” Iwaizumi demanded loudly. 

Then he heard the one thing that didn’t seem overwhelming.  In fact it wasn’t like a sound at all.  More like a feeling persuading him forward. A call that seemed to promise relief.  It cleared his head just enough for him to realize it was pulling him towards the bathroom.  It seemed, judging by Kuroo’s head whipping around to that direction, that he felt it too. 

“Tooru?!”  Kuroo called sounding panicked taking a step forward at the same time that Iwaizumi took two, “Wait...shit..are you...are you calling  _ him _ ?!” His voice going from panic to disbelief before he grabbed Iwaizumi’s wrist only to quickly release it with a hiss after Iwaizumi felt a jolt go through his body, starting from his forehead and zapping down his arm and into Kuroo. 

“Calling who?” Makki asked. 

Could they not feel it?  This pure radiation of reassuring nothingness.  It was like being pulled along by the one person who knew with absolute certainty that everything was actually going to be okay,  _ if he just kept moving forward _ .  It was too easy to follow the feeling into the bathroom where Oikawa was hanging halfway out of the bathtub.  Iwaizumi stepped over the threshold just in time to see the mermaid tumble over the side and slide down to the tile flooring.  

“Tooru, what the fuck!”  Kuroo was rushing to his side but Oikawa was waving him off and it felt as if his entire essence was enticing Iwaizumi closer.  He felt entirely safe and trusting; familiar. 

“Iwa-chan shouldn’t be near the water right now.  I can just feel it,” Oikawa defended and Iwaizumi knew he was right.  He could still hear the commands jumbled alongside everything else; they were very convincing.  He clattered down onto his knees and slammed into Oikawa’s arms without giving it a second thought. 

It was like a blanket was settled over the noise in his mind.  Wrestling it until it was properly smothered and he could process his surroundings again.  Oikawa’s tail was wet against his legs, soaking his sweatpants through as it supported his weight.  Arms were clenched around his frame, one hand resting around his shoulder and the other braced at the back of his head where his face was being pushed into a wet shoulder. Oikawa was tense and trembling beneath him. Concerned, he squeezed at Oikawa’s hip. 

Instantly Kuroo was down at their sides waving Makki and Mattsun back with the frantic jerking of his arm.  Iwaizumi only got a brief look at him but he looked absolutely stricken.  Terrified in a way that Iwaizumi didn’t think was possible on a mermaid.  His hands hovered over Oikawa’s body getting near but not quite touching before he turned to Iwaizumi, making sure that he was properly within his line of sight when Iwaizumi slid his chin over Oikawa’s shoulder. 

“Hey, I need you to do me a favor okay?” Kuroo asked trying to sound lighthearted but Iwaizumi could hear the urgency in his voice. 

He felt hesitant to do anything Kuroo asked of him.  The last time he did he ended up being overwhelmed and having regressive impulses that hadn’t bothered him for the past few weeks.  He didn’t want to give up this feeling of safety.  This feeling of complete reliance. 

“Okay, okay,” Kuroo said in a desperate breath, “Oikawa’s actually the one that needs the favor but as his bodyguard you’d really be doing me a solid here, okay?” 

“I owe him anyway,” Iwaizumi mumbled out feeling strangely weightless, as if the past 7 years of his life had been a figment of his imagination. 

“Great, good, okay,” Kuroo seemed to be convincing himself of this fact because Iwaizumi already felt all of those things, “how good is your imagination?”

“Fine, I guess? I got a C in middle school art class.” 

“Um...okay,” Kuroo said quickly as if he didn’t quite understand what was being said but was going to run with it anyway, “Imagine a bubble, just there behind your forehead, can you do that?”

Easy.

“Great, that’s good,” Kuroo said enthusiastically while he heard a very distinct  _ what the fuck _ from Makki before he was shushed by a stern look from the mermaid bodyguard, “make it thick.  Okay, you should be able to feel out some different things going on, right?”

Iwaizumi frowned, “I don’t want to.”  He could feel them, just barely there, but he knew if he focused too hard on them he would plummet back to being overwhelmed.  It was too comforting to not have everything gone to shit for just two minutes for him to justify leaving that headspace. 

“Okay, well, Oikawa needs you to, quickly,” Kuroo snapped then cursed under his breath as if he hadn’t meant to say what he did, “Just feel out for  _ one _ .  You remember what it felt like when I gave you my Heart?” 

“Gross.”

“Well you’re not to pleasant right now either,” Kuroo grumbled, “I need you to give it back to me.”

“What?”

“My Heart, give it back,” Kuroo demanded, “When you think you’ve got it just imagine it traveling through that little bubble behind your forehead and to your hand.  Then I’ll take it from there.” 

“...Okay,” Iwaizumi agreed but only because Oikawa’s shaking seemed to get worse and he was reminded that the mermaid needed to be in water right now.  Not on the bathroom floor giving him some sort of weird restrictive hug. 

It wasn’t hard to sort out the one presence in that little bubble behind his forehead that felt foreign.  Aside from it were three others that he felt were familiar to him.  They were also larger in size and anything more than that, he didn’t want to examine lest he get overtaken again; just in case they decided to assault him again. So, he took the smallest and most unfamiliar piece and shoved it down the length of his arm.  He was sluggish when he reached out to touch Kuroo and almost immediately his hand was grasped; all at once he felt that obstructive aura disappear. 

He felt back on kilter instantly and his mind infinitely more clear than it had been seconds ago.  Clear enough for him to realize that Oikawa was gasping for breath and seemed to be the one overwhelmed.  Confused, Iwaizumi sat up and tried to get Oikawa to respond to him but Kuroo merely shoved his hands under Oikawa’s armpits and heaved until he could hoist Oikawa into the tub.  Iwaizumi scrambled to lift Oikawa’s massive tail so he wouldn’t fall out again, each passing second helping to clear his head. 

“What the fuck,” Iwaizumi whispered as panic started to creep up on him, “what the fuck just happened?”

It was like the times he had reverted to obeying the siren’s call with his spotted memory and with how easily overwhelmed he was. Only this time he had choices.  He felt like he could have refused anything at any point, he was cognitive enough to make his own decisions and wasn’t being forced into doing anything.  For only a brief second it occurred to him that this might be the difference between Siren and Mermaid.  

“Seriously,” Makki said, his voice stretched thin and strung with worry, “what the  _ fuck, _ just happened?”

“Would everybody just shut up for a second,” Kuroo snapped, hands plunging under water to peel back Oikawa’s eyelid.  Behind the translucent second eyelid were the whites of Oikawa’s eyes and Kuroo cursed under his breath. He cupped the side of Oikawa’s head and parted his lips; a deep baritone note resounding off of the bathroom walls and warming Iwaizumi’s body from his chest to his fingertips before his hand began to glow red, thick with tangible Heart. It only took seconds for Oikawa’s trembling to cease and for his eyes to twitch open, warm brown gazing up instead of the rolled back position they were in before. 

He tried to speak but from under the water, Iwaizumi had no idea what was being said.  It didn’t seem to stop Kuroo though, as he snorted and dragged a wet hand through his messy hair, “I don’t believe this.   _ That’s _ the first thing you ask?”

“What’s happening?” Iwaizumi asked feeling lost and clueless.  

Kuroo pointed very firmly at him, “You better still be imagining that goddamn bubble, you hear me?”

“Wh-”

“Imagine. It.” Kuroo ordered pointedly nodding in a pleased manner when Iwaizumi did as he was told.  

“What the  _ fuck _ ,” Makki uttered in horror.

“What?” Iwaizumi asked, his voice now the one strung with stress and worry.

“Your forehead...it’s um…” Makki couldn’t quite finish and instead stared gaping at Iwaizumi’s face.

“It’s glowing, yes very nice,” Kuroo said hurriedly, “would you come here and assure this idiot that you’re okay so he doesn’t pull any other idiotic stunts tonight?” 

“I’m sorry my forehead is  _ what _ ?” Iwaizumi asked, mouth gaping as he hurried to the water to look at his reflection to see that his forehead was in fact glowing a very light shade of grey, “What. The.  _ Fuck _ .” 

“Calm down,” Kuroo said lowly while eyeing Iwaizumi, “Just breathe and stay fucking calm.”

“What is this?” Iwaizumi brought his hands up to touch at his forehead, feeling nothing but his normal skin. 

“Humans aren’t supposed to be able to manipulate heart, are they Tetsu-chan?” Oikawa asked after just barely surfacing the water, looking stronger with each passing moment.

“Wait you think that I’m...that I  _ can _ …” The thought was so ludicrous that Iwaizumi couldn’t voice it. 

“I get why you stayed for so long,” Kuroo sighed, looking tired and intrigued at the same time, “this is...incredibly interesting.” 

Iwaizumi looked around to his friends nearly panicked at their looks of apprehension and shock and while he felt like he should give them some sort of reassurance that of course he couldn’t do anything they were suggesting of him.  Or that he was still him.  He found that the first thing out of his mouth was, “No one tells my mom  _ anything _ .” 

“If you would just calm down,” Kuroo sighed, “It’ll go away and you’ll be a normal little human again...hopefully.” 

“Iwa-chan,” Oikawa beckoned with a crooked finger.  Iwaizumi shuffled closer, heart pounding and breath coming quickly in little panicked bursts. Oikawa brought his pointer finger and thumb up, glowing that teal color significant of Oikawa’s Heart and he pinched Iwaizumi’s nose.  He felt the Heart dissipate into his skin at the same time that Kuroo protested the action, “It’s okay.” 

“Tooru,” Kuroo hissed, “Did you not see the reaction he had to my Heart?! He’s obviously absorbed too much!” 

“Look at him, Tetsu-chan, he’s fine,” Oikawa chided and he was right.  Iwaizumi felt  _ better _ .  Logically he knew it was because he was letting Oikawa influence him.  Letting him assure him that everything  _ was _ okay.  That if he calmed down it would be okay. And logically he knew that something was very wrong, but if Oikawa thought it would be okay then he supposed he would be the one to know something.  Afterall Iwaizumi didn’t have a clue about Heart or anything surrounding it. 

“What...was all of that?” Iwaizumi asked while sitting down beside the tub, “I’ve never felt like...that before.” 

“Iwa-chan got overwhelmed,” Oikawa sighed softly, “You have your own dormant Heart, the Heart of that nasty siren, mine, and then Tetsu-chans.  Humans are absorbent, but like I said before, there’s a limit that they can take.  Your body is trying to tell you that you’re toeing the line...or…”

“Or?” Mattsun and Kuroo asked at the same time.

“Oh come on Tetsu-chan,” Oikawa teased, “Surely you’ve figured out part of this already?”

“....You...you don’t think he’s…” Kuroo’s mouth flattened into a straight line and he eyed Iwaizumi before sighing, “it makes sense. 

“We think,” Oikawa started, “that your body is trying to override you into being able to either manipulate your Heart well enough to boot out that pesky Siren Heart—which usually happens to child mermaids that don’t have enough training to manipulate their heart.  I’m talking very young, like infant stages. Or, that your subconscious has latched onto the only other Heart you’ve been exposed to—mine—and is using it to cause the override to boot out that pesky Siren Heart.” 

Iwaizumi had to think on that for an embarrassingly long time.  Oikawa and Kuroo had both stated that humans had Heart that they couldn’t manipulate, they could absorb insane amounts of Heart—but how much was “insane” he didn’t know.  From what he had observed, each heart was marked by a different color for each user.  Oikawa’s was a teal, Kuroo’s a red, “So the grey glowing….is that the...the Siren’s heart?” 

“Hard to say,” Kuroo said with a tilted frown, “my hypothesis is no, since you didn’t seem to be under the direct control of the immediate heart, but seemed to be taking suggestions—if your actions were anything to go by—but we would have to do testing to figure that answer out.” 

“...if that’s the case then what is it?” Matsukawa asked, “You aren’t suggesting that Iwaizumi has this...this magical ability, are you?”

“It’s not magic!” Both Kuroo and Oikawa snapped together. 

“You don’t really think it’s... _ mine _ do you?” Iwaizumi asked hesitantly, not sure if he really wanted the answer or not.

“It seems unlikely,” Kuroo answered, “In all of our history it’s  _ never _ happened.”

“Unless directly acted upon by a God,” Oikawa clarified. 

“And Oikawa is no God.”

“Hey!”

It was almost too much to take in.  He wasn’t sure how to make heads or tails of this information.  He wasn’t even sure if he  _ wanted _ to, “What...what did I do to Oikawa?” If he had to know one thing, it had to be this.  

“As soon as I gave you my Heart,” Kuroo started, “it was like you were trying to push  _ all _ of your excess Heart onto me.  Some of it Siren, some of it mermaid. That’s not exactly safe so I wasn’t going to let anyone touch you until we got this figured out but  _ this idiot _ blew that to hell.” 

“How could I do that?” Iwaizumi asked, cradling his head in his hands, nothing was making sense.

“Like I said,” Kuroo sighed softly, “It was like you were overwhelmed.  Like you reached a point of capacity and needed to clear space.  It’s almost all entirely subconscious and can get overwhelming if you don’t monitor it.”

“I just helped Iwa-chan clear his head enough to grab some control,” Oikawa answered, “I had a hunch that you could do it so I called you to me in the only way that would get through to an overwhelmed mermaid—since I figured a human can’t be  _ too  _ complicated—and initiated contact so I could take the transfer.”

“Meaning...you took,” Makki started slowly, “this...extra...Heart that Iwaizumi was putting off?” He looked confused by his own words, as if bullshitting a test he hadn’t really studied for before scrubbing at his head and making a noise of frustration, “this is too damn confusing.”

“Think of it like a punch,” Kuroo suggested, “Iwaizumi punched me so I decided I didn’t want to have anymore physical contact with him.  Because who likes to get punched right?  Oikawa, Oikawa likes to get punched so he took all the punches Iwaizumi was throwing—even if he wasn’t aware he was throwing them.”

“Okay...so it was like an attack?” Matsukawa asked.

“Yeah, like an attack,” Kuroo nodded, “Oikawa absorbs most of the impact.  Not good for him but helps Iwaizumi work off enough steam to clear his head a little.  Enough for me to give him some very basic training on how to manage Heart.”

“The glowing bubble?” Makki asked.

“The glowing bubble,” Kuroo confirmed, “Like I said, most Heart manipulation is done by the subconscious, it acts in accordance with your own will, so to close off your heart from your subconscious you encase it in what most mermaids imagine as a bubble—since it’s the easiest thing to keep. Like waiting for the whistle so you know when you can start.  It forces a disconnect between the subconscious and a users Heart.” 

Guilt made him grasp at Oikawa’s hand.  If he was understanding things properly then he had basically just spent the past who knew how long, attacking Oikawa.  Attacking him to the point that he lost consciousness and Kuroo had to do...well whatever he did to make it better. He pressed his forehead against the side of the tub and, as if understanding his thoughts, Oikawa squeezed his hand in reassurance. 

“We can clear any more of this up tomorrow,” Kuroo sighed as the storm made the house windows shudder in their frames, “it seems like we’ll be staying a bit longer.”

“The storm shouldn’t last more than a few hours,” Makki mentioned.

“Oh no,” Kuroo sighed, “It’s far more complicated than that.  After witnessing this, we can’t leave.”

“We’re actually bound by law,” Oikawa chirped with a grin, “we have to monitor any strange Heart usage after all.” 

“You just want to avoid your duties in war,” Kuroo said flatly.

“And you don’t?” 

“....Touchè.” 

“...Let’s, get some sleep and deal with this crazy bullshit in the morning,” Iwaizumi offered, mostly because he didn’t want to think about it anymore. 

There was a general murmur of consent from his friends who were equally overwhelmed. He helped get them extra futons and blankets from around the house before putting them up in the living room. They said their muted goodnights and Iwaizumi promised to follow suit once he had changed out the water in the tub and ran some water over Oikawa’s tail. 

Once led to twice, then a third and by that time even Kuroo had started to doze off.  Iwaizumi  _ was  _ exhausted but Oikawa’s tail seemed dry again so he wanted to make sure the other wasn’t going to die on him if he spent some time sleeping, so he turned on the spray again. Oikawa shifted for the millionth time to get comfortable and silence fell over them.  

Thoughts of the evening crossed Iwaizumi’s mind obsessively and he eyed Oikawa, who looked disturbingly awake, considering the time of night.  He supposed it was a good thing, meaning that the bathwater was still working even though they couldn’t get anymore seawater and Oikawa was feeling better.  More than that, he thought he could use the opportunity to learn just a bit more about where Oikawa came from.

“Tell me about it?” Iwaizumi requested sleepily, head propped in one hand and the other barely grasping the shower head as he ran fresh water over Oikawa’s tail. 

“The war?” Oikawa asked softly, his head just barely above the water.  Only far enough that he could comfortably talk and let his gills soak. 

“Yeah.”

“Well...let’s see...there’s this weird thing that happened...at The Battle of the Northworths.” 

“Hmm?” 

“The Northworths is a small piece of territory that’s constantly fought over between Mermaid and Siren.  It’s land so it has foods and resources that we can’t otherwise get underwater so it holds value and we don’t want to let it go.”

“Why not just take from lands like this one?”  Iwaizumi asked blinking slowly and trying to stay awake.

“Unlike this island it’s uninhabited, so we don’t have to worry about any humans trying to kills us or worship us.” 

Iwaizumi snorted, “Like you’d care if someone worshiped you.”

Oikawa pouted and crossed his arms before flopping his massive tail to maneuver the small tub and turn so he was belly down with his arms folded, wet, over Iwaizumi’s lap and his head resting on his forearms, “It can be a problem you know. You can’t spend enough time to dry out your legs to go get things if you have people crowding you trying to shower you with gifts or ask for some impossible miracle.” 

Iwaizumi laughed softly, most of the air whistling out his nose as he turned the spray over Oikawa’s neck where his gills were and letting his free hand rest in the wet locks of Oikawa’s cinnamon hair, “Alright, it’s too much work to be worshipped.  A tip from the great Oikawa Tooru, duly noted.” 

“Are you being sarcastic again! Iwa-chan! I’m serious!” Oikawa had a heavy pout in his voice but his lips couldn’t help but twitch upwards, “ _ Anyway _ , it’s where the tides in the war really changed.  Before we didn’t have any problems holding back sirens.  We were more than capable enough with Heart and weapon usage to keep them off our grounds and away from our towns.”

“But?” Iwaizumi prompted when Oikawa fell silent.

“But, there was this  _ weird _ thing that happened,” Oikawa sighed with a puzzled frown, “in a sense it reminds me of you Iwa-chan.” 

“Me?”

“This man—some say it was a human, some say a siren—it can be hard to tell since Sirens are known to force all kinds of creatures to do their bidding.  Anyway, it didn’t  _ seem _ like he really was fighting for the sirens but we all know how manipulative they can be.  Probably just another one of their victims but they chose  _ really _ well if they knew what he was capable of.  If they didn’t, they got really lucky.”

“How’s so?” 

“He just absorbs every stray bit of heart we have.  Just like you, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa said while looking down at where his arms were crossed, “It takes a conscious effort for me to keep my heart to myself when I touch you.  Otherwise you just...take it.  So much so that any ordinary human would have combusted by this point.  There’s honestly something wrong with you Iwa-chan.  You’re like a little monster.  Your own Godzilla if you please.”

“Oh my god, shut up,” Iwaizumi huffed out trying to be angry but laughing instead, “I showed you  _ one _ movie and you won’t stop calling me Godzilla.” 

“Is it really a coincidence that Godzilla is your favorite monster, Iwa-chan? I think not! The similarities are too close!”

“What, your theory is that I’m somehow related to Godzilla?”

“Admit it, you’d be stoked if you were.” 

He wasn’t wrong.  In fact that would probably make Iwaizumi’s  _ year _ , “Shut up and tell me about this strange being that reminds you of me.” 

“Well,” Oikawa started matter of factly, “she wreaks havoc in Tokyo—”

“—In The Battle of Northworths!” Iwaizumi clarified, amused. 

Oikawa’s lips parted just slightly to show his teeth as he shook with laughter.  All which died out in just a few short seconds before he got serious again, “Well, he reminds me of Iwa-chan because any attack we throw at him, he would just absorb the heart and move on.  We couldn’t get him with anything.  The Siren’s would just use him as a shield and after he absorbed everything we had they would attack.  Our physical attacks are strong too but Mermaids are too accustomed to enhancing attacks with Heart. Normally it’s not a problem but…” 

“Hmm, well there has to be some sort of limit right? I mean there also have to be side effects?  Like what happened before or what you and I have right now—which is creepy by the way and I don’t feel like we need to be this...connected.” 

“Mmm, if it were just one or two hearts I’m sure they would feel what we are—its common for mated pairs to do and sometimes there are more than just two partners so it’s possible.  It’s impossible for us to really know what’s going on with him since he’s the one that would be absorbing all the heart—and the way that Mermaids and Sirens absorb Heart is different than humans.  Maybe the most recent mermaids would be able to feel  _ something _ but not the first few that fought him.  Their heart would be so pushed to the side and dissipated by now that I’m not sure they even feel a difference.” 

“Wait  _ mated _ —”

“—But the story of The Englut is something that even our children fear now.  It’s only been a few months since he surfaced.” 

“The...Englut...” Iwaizumi said, unimpressed.

“In my defense I voted for ‘Devourer’,” Oikawa huffed, nose in the air and arms crossed, “Most people wanted to name him for those huge scars across his face though—of course that didn’t go through either.”

“Scars?” 

“Mmhumm,” Oikawa affirmed, “big jagged ones, across his face on the right side.  Looks like he was in a fishing accident with a barracuda to me.   _ I _ don’t even like to mess with those.” 

Iwaizumi had gone ridged.  It seemed impossible for it to be a coincidence yet his mind screamed that it could be nothing but.  It had been years.  Too long for him to still be alive.  There could be more than one person with such a scar.  Oikawa could be wrong.   _ Had _ to be wrong. 

“Iwa-chan?” Oikawa prompted lifting his head and looking concerned. 

“What did he look like, other than the scar?” Iwaizumi asked tentatively. 

“Um, very dark...tall and dark hair?  I only saw him for a second before he was taken off the grounds Iwa-chan.  I wasn’t very involved either…” 

“Would you recognize a picture?”

“...Iwa-chan?” 

Iwaizumi was already standing, leaving Oikawa to slide back down into the bathtub.  Iwaizumi rushed out of the bathroom feeling more awake and downright  _ terrified.  _  He always expected to feel more excited when faced with this sort of opportunity but all he could think was  _ please not this time.  Please let it be another fluke _ .  He rushed into the living room and around the sleeping bodies of his friends to their bookshelf.  Iwaizumi slid his thumb along the frame of one of the pictures and grasped it tightly before making his way back into the bathroom.

His hands started to shake.

As if sensing the high tension in the room Kuroo woke up in the corner.  Iwaizumi saw him tense and look around quickly as if he thought that there had been a threat in the room before he settled his gaze on Iwaizumi.  He looked almost tired enough to fall back asleep but too interested to do so. 

“Here,” Iwaizumi said softly, “is...is this him?” 

Oikawa glanced up at Iwaizumi, a half a second look before he was sliding up to gingerly slip the photo from Iwaizumi’s grip.  He tilted it so the image was bathed in moonlight illuminating the picture of a man with deep scars over the right side of his face.  He was dark skinned from a lifetime in the sun, dark haired from a long line of hereditary lineage, and towering over a child version of Iwaizumi.  Both were holding their largest catches of the day and grinning at the camera.  

“...Why does Iwa-chan have a picture with The Englut?”  Oikawa’s voice was trembling and Kuroo sat up, alert. He had a feeling Oikawa had already pieced it together while they were talking.  The similarities were too blinding to not look at.  Iwaizumi’s reaction too startling to ignore.  The photograph too perfect to dismiss.

With a thick voice and his heart in his mouth Iwaizumi gave the confirmation.

“He’s my dad.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to drop a comment or scream! Let me know what your favorite part was, why you hate me, why you love this? Down for whatever~~  
> Follow my tumblr Koi-Ink@tumblr.com  
> Follow my amazing beta Inspiringanna@tumblr.com
> 
> Enjoy a deep emotion
> 
> Title alternate: I've Searched A Thousand Years For You, You Shitty Englut.


	8. The Closer We Grow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always major thanks to my beta Sophie for everything she does!!  
> She's saved you guys from having to read some pretty embarrassing mistakes so go share some love with her on her tumblr!  
> inspiringanna.tumblr.com

Silence sat so thick and heavy in the air that tangible weight felt as if it were being pressed on Iwaizumi’s shoulders, forcing a bend in his spine.  The burden so strong, his hands slapped to his bent knees; almost as if he had just run for miles.  He watched with bated breath as Kuroo slipped the framed photo from Oikawa’s slack hold; it only took a second for his piercing glance to further pin Iwaizumi in his place.  A small curse hissed over Kuroo’s lips crackling through the static silence and rousing sound to Iwaizumi’s ears.  

He swallowed painfully past the lump in his throat, unable to dislodge it, just as he could not control the shaking of his hands.  Time became simultaneously irrelevant and far too pressing all at once.  Time was wasted on keeping an ear out for stories of the ship instead of for castaways had prolonged his search. He had so little time to find his father before it was too late.  Yet, he couldn’t tell if a minute had passed since the photograph had been confirmed―or an hour.  At some point, his mind had gone into overdrive thinking of every possibility while also falling as still and silent as the furthest depths of the ocean.

His father had been dubbed _Englut_ , pulled into a war, and manipulated by Sirens.  It was far too likely that once his usefulness ceased to exist, so would his father.  Stress piled tight onto his shoulders with the thought, tension rising along his spine and hardening his muscles.  While Iwaizumi was aware that his breathing didn’t sound right past the blood rushing through his ears and that the two figures in front of him were Oikawa and Kuroo, he had forgotten how long it had been since there had been a change. A second?  A minute? Too long.

The anxiety bubbling away in his stomach rose into his chest, overwhelming him until his emotions morphed into anger before they had the chance to settle.  He finally had his clue, his _answer_.  Years of searching, and finally through none other than the mouth of a creature of the sea, did he _finally_ know.

Excitement joined the anger and fear became a rolling wave through his gut; a sonata of emotion. A mixture so vast he wasn’t sure which one to pick or even if he could.  So he went with the one thing he knew best―that he couldn’t let his father become like him.  It was because of _him_ that his father was vulnerable at sea, and therefore it was his duty to bring him home.

It wasn’t until there were two strong hands gripping his shoulders that he realized he was pacing, stopped only by his friend.  It took him a moment longer to realize he wasn’t in the bathroom at all anymore but instead in the living room, one foot caught in the folds of Makki’s sleeping bag.  Kuroo was hovering behind him, looking—from what Iwaizumi could make out in the mirror facing him—bewildered and the barest hint concerned.  Hanamaki had him by the shoulders, face tilted so that he could make eye contact with Iwaizumi, lips moving but no sound filtered through his ears.  He must have woken his friend.  A second glance at his caught foot confirmed that for him.

He realized, finally, that he was sweating.  Then noticed the blood pounding profusely through his ears and hindering his hearing, his ragged breathing, and his teeth sore from how he had been grinding them together. He found himself wanting to obey the gentle pressure against his shoulders, applied from Makki’s large hands; but physically he could not follow through.  Just beyond all of his physical panic he could feel Oikawa’s anxiousness and a pull in his abdomen that told him, _come_.  A grip on his shoulders said _stay_.  Both directions too opposing, too overwhelming and he he felt _lost_.

The only direction that made sense was East.  He had to go East, his father _had_ to be there.  It was, after all, the direction they first traveled that fateful day when Iwaizumi was but a child.  Pure and naïve, thinking that he could take on the world and survive with nary a scratch.  Instead, he lost to a Siren and threw his whole life into panic.  His parents not spared for even a second.

Hot rage burned his lungs with each frenzied breath, his face stained with each falling bead of sweat, and his gut torn apart.  Fury at himself for being such a careless child, the inability to do what needed to be done even years later; his own arrogance and fear stopping him.  Rage at his friends.  How _dare_ they try and stop him.  Not when they _knew_ just how hard he had worked for the past 6 years.

The feeling festered and scalded his skin, blistering his insides until he was nothing but instinct, working hard to fling Makki’s hands from his shoulders and pushing the man to the side.  He stomped out of the house before anyone could drag him back; including the feeling of his own impending guilt.  No one could stop him from pulling his family back together and righting what he broke.  Not his friends, not some Mermaids, and certainly not a silly storm; nor even himself.

Makki and Kuroo’s presence following after him was an itch in the back of his mind―they weren’t important.  Instead, he put all of his focus into gripping the railing of the house stairs to withstand the strong wind.  What a silly thing to be pushed around by when he was so rightfully malicious.  

Sand billowed up from the ground, whipping into his eyes and cutting the thin skin over his cheeks before filling his nose and mouth.  Breathing became difficult for an entirely different reason. The building frustration from not being able to push his way through a simple storm fueled him to strike back against the sudden pressure around his bicep but it was successful in pulling him back a step first.

He had barely gained ground when Makki tugged at him again, yanking and pulling until they were spilling backwards over the _genkan_.  Together, they tumbled down against shoes and crowding feet, spitting out sand, their muscles straining against each other.  There was a split second where Iwaizumi felt absolutely _rabid_.  He could jam his elbow back into Makki’s face and follow up with a quick jab, surely earning his freedom; but the thought terrified him.

It only took that one half a second of hesitation for Makki to get a better grip on him and shame pressed at Iwaizumi’s cheeks in the same way that Kuroo pressed the front door shut; firmly. He had actually intended to hurt his friend.  And for what?  To get out there and find his dad?  At night, in a storm, with _no_ ship?  No crew?  Brilliant wasn’t he.  Absolutely brilliant.

“What the fuck was that?” Makki asked breathlessly in his ear, more to himself than to Iwaizumi, “What the _fuck_.”

“I’m sorry,” Iwaizumi gasped, “I don’t—I’m not sure what I—I’m sorry.”

He struggled to readjust in Makki’s hold but—understandably—the hold was tightened.  He let his head flop back onto Makki’s collarbone and he waited, ultimately it would be up to Makki to let him go.  The more calm and in control he seemed, the more likely it was that he would be released.

“You gotta talk to me,” Makki demanded, just as breathless, “Right. Now.”

“I just…fuck,” Iwaizumi huffed, “It felt like I had to go get him.  Sail East and just _go_.”

“You don’t even have a ship!” Makki protested, tone oozing with irritation.

“I know.”

“It’s _storming_!”

“I know,” Iwaizumi sighed.

“You would need a ship big enough to survive _huge_ swells!”

“I know.”

“Which means you would need a _crew_!”

“I know!”

“Un _-fucking-_ believable,” Makki panted.

“Iwaizumi.” Mattsun hardly sounded affected.  His voice just as calm and even-toned as usual.  Knowingly, Iwaizumi turned his wrist out and let Mattsun press two fingers firm against it.  Honestly, he would make a great nurse one day but the bedside manners would probably murder his career, “What are you feeling?”

“I’m so fucking antsy,” Iwaizumi huffed, though he figured through his jittery limbs and irritability that was glaringly obvious, “I just…feel like I have to go, _right_ now.”

“Where do you think you’ll get to?”

Iwaizumi barked out a humorless laugh, “Death’s door, at this rate.”

“Probably not wrong on that one,” Makki grumbled.  

“You need to sleep,” Mattsun said firmly, “A lot of this is stress related.  I’m sure telling us all of this hasn’t been easy, but you need to rest.”

“Mattsun.”  Iwaizumi shifted to rest on his knees after Makki released his grip, noting that Kuroo was still manning the door just in case, “There’s more…”

“It can wait until tomorrow.”

“It can’t.”

“If it’s about whatever Siren bullshit has its hands around your neck and trying to get you out to sea again, then it _can_ wait.  Hajime, you need to sleep.   _We_ need to sleep.”

“It’s not about the...well it is but,” Iwaizumi sighed and scrubbed at his face, sand falling and his eyes heavy.  Maybe he did need sleep, “My dad has been kidnapped and is being used as some sort of weapon in that war Oikawa mentioned.”

The room fell silent until Makki took a sharp inhale, ready to speak, only to be cut off by Mattsun, “We’ll address it tomorrow.  For now, we _sleep_.”

“Mattsun please,” Iwaizumi pleaded, his voice pressed tight, “it’s my _dad_.”  

“I know, I know,” He acknowledged lips downturned and eyes sad, “but right now there’s nothing we can do.  Give yourself a reset.  It’ll be easier to process all of this when you aren’t exhausted on top of this stress.”

“He’s right,” Makki agreed with a soft touch to Iwaizumi’s bicep, “if you go running around out there now all you’re going to do is have a repeat from the first time.  You _know_ how that ended.”

He did.  The uncomfortable roll in his belly and the fear fluttering in his chest were all too reminiscent of the first time he tried getting someone to lend him a ship while in a turbulent state of mind.  That was the time that he had been taken to the hospital by local police and hardly two conversations later was he being forcibly admitted.  The doctor had to call for a 48 hour hold to force his stay; a formal court order followed soon after.  In the end, it had really been for his own good, but at the time he had been so furious that his mother helped to file against him.  He had said horrible things to her, thought horrible things about his medical staff, but ultimately he _did_ start to get better.  

He ended up getting transferred to a long-term care facility where he met Mamaw.  It was then that he started to feel more stable with her medications and staff directions—not that he didn’t hold some sort of resentment for them in the beginning.  He dropped by every once in awhile to offer them flowers and a thank you card.  Partly out of his gratitude—they did take good care of him after all—but also out of guilt.  He hadn’t always been an easy patient but they were extraordinarily patient with him.  Despite being on good terms with them now, going back into inpatient care wasn’t something that sounded even remotely ideal.

With a heavy sigh he conceded, “Okay.”

“Okay,” Makki mirrored, relief thick in his breath.

“Say goodnight to that one before you sleep,” Kuroo said from where he was still standing in front of the door, arms crossed over his chest and head nodding towards the bathroom where Oikawa was, “he won’t shut up otherwise.”

“Right,” Iwaizumi sighed while rubbing at his forehead again and rising to his feet.  His head swam as he stood, he assumed it was a mixture of exhaustion and stress and let it clear before he began walking to the bathroom.

“I’ll get a spot ready for you in the living room,” Makki said firmly as if he wouldn’t take no for an answer.

“Sure,” He agreed absently, it didn’t really matter where he slept.  

Kuroo followed him into the bathroom where Oikawa instantly sat up, sloshing water over the side of the tub and onto the tile where it ran down rivets into the draining system.  He looked as exhausted as Iwaizumi felt, completely drained and only holding on by the tension that seemed to stain the atmosphere. As much as he wanted to assure him that everything was fine and then turn to sleep, he got the feeling that it would only worry Oikawa more so he dropped into a squat by the tub and grasped one of Oikawa’s hands.

“Worry is a bad look on you,” Iwaizumi said with a twisted smirk, “your forehead will wrinkle you know.”

“Don’t be mean!” Oikawa huffed, offended, “What happened?”

“Nothing, nothing,” Iwaizumi tried but at Oikawa’s face of disbelief he sighed, “I just got wrapped up in my own head.  Nothing out of the ordinary.”

“Iwa-chan is a habitual offender,” Oikawa agreed quietly as his eyes searched across Iwaizumi’s face, searching for something unknown to Iwaizumi himself, “he never learns from his mistakes.”

“Now who’s being mean?” He grumbled displeased, “Anyway, we agreed sleep comes first and talk comes second.”

“Such a wise decision must have been Makki-chan’s,” Oikawa commented bluntly, eyes still roaming across the span of Iwaizumi’s cheeks and forehead.

“Mattsun’s actually,” Iwaizumi sighed, “So if you’re done searching for my pimples, I’m going to bed.”

Oikawa’s piercing gaze snapped back up to his eyes and his jaw dropped in an offended manner that brought a quiet chuckle from the depths of Iwaizumi’s chest, “I am _not_ looking for _pimples_!”

“Then I guess we’re good here,” Iwaizumi said cheekily before absentmindedly bringing Oikawa’s hand up to his lips where he pressed a tender kiss to the back of his hand, “goodnight.”  

Red flooded Oikawa’s face, spanning from ear to ear and over the bridge of his nose.  Speechless, he said nothing as Iwaizumi released his hand and stood.  He offered a simple wave of the hand to Kuroo to bid him a goodnight and left the bathroom with a yawn so large his jaw cracked; the sound of Kuroo’s barking laughter following him out.  

It was only after he was tucked into his own futon in the living room between Makki and Mattsun, blankets pulled up around his chin, that he realized exactly what he had done.  Fatigue was chased from him by embarrassment which pressed heavy on his shoulders while shame settled red across his face.  What had he been _thinking_?  Clearly he _hadn’t_ been, at _all_!  With a groan he buried his face into his hands.

Someone shifted beside him and a heavy inhale sounded from them, as if they were trying to wake themselves up just a bit.  A hot hand draped over his chest and a cold nose pressed against his back.  He was shushed with a warm gust of breath against his back and a quietly murmured, _“It’ll be fine.  We’ll talk tomorrow,_ ” from Makki.  He nodded into his hands and let Makki’s familiar presence lull him into sleep.

When his eyelids managed to split themselves apart again the living room was hazy with the rising sun and cooled post-storm air.  Quiet shuffling sounded just above his head and he turned his heavy body squinting through his barely parted lashes.  His vision, blurry with sleep, made him think he was still dreaming; everything was far too foggy to be real.

 A tall mass towered above him, it’s massive girth swaying from side to side as legs―uncharacteristically thin for a belly so wide―were weaving over his floor.  A sound cracked out of his throat but he couldn’t be sure what it was.  In fact, if it hadn’t of been for the creatures sudden stillness, he wouldn’t have thought he had made a noise at all.

“Go to sleep,” it demanded, voice also uncharacteristically soft for its massive size.

“Sleep?” He mumbled back, the word holding significance for him but he couldn’t quite grasp it with his mind so heavy and fuzzy.  He tried to turn over to get a better look at the creature but got caught in the blankets; his mind slow at unraveling them.

“You’ll have to do it,” A second voice said from the same spot and Iwaizumi frowned, how strange.

The creature came too close for comfort and his heart pounded hard in his chest as it lowered itself to be right above his head, “Go to sleep,” it repeated, voice gentle again as soft lips pressed against his forehead and he felt instantly more exhausted.  As the creature moved away from him again he recognized the flash of a blue-green scale.

Oikawa’s name died in his throat before he let sleep wash over him again.

The next time he woke, he hardly remembered the dream, only the soft vague feelings it left on him.  The room was far more bright than before, the sun high over the sky by now.  School was a forgotten concept to the two college boys on his right and left, both turned in and curled against Hajime’s sides.  Feeling sleep clinging to him, he turned and curled against Mattsun, pressing his forehead flush against the other man’s collarbone. Mattsun gave a deep inhale but slung an arm around Iwaizumi’s frame.

He felt as though he had hardly slept more when his shoulder was shaken, “Iwaizumi.”

No longer was he pressed against Mattsuns frame, instead he was alone, curled under the covers with his hands fisted into the material to hold it against his face.  It was significantly easier to keep his eyes open this time but fatigue still pressed at him.  Easily fixable with a cup of coffee. He turned to see Makki hovering over him from where he had been shaking his shoulder.  

“Time is it?” Iwaizumi asked voice cracking around a yawn as he sat up.

“‘Bout one in the afternoon,” Makki answered, “Auntie made coffee and lunch.”

“God, I love her,” Iwaizumi grumbled contentedly as he pushed the covers off, skin prickling up into gooseflesh at the chill in the air.

“Dude, same,” Makki said with a large grin and if Iwaizumi were more awake he might have noticed the odd lilt to his voice or the strange grin stretched over his face.

Over lunch, after he had half a cup of coffee, did he start to realize the odd tension surrounding everyone at the table.  His mother had greeted him as usual, words soft and supportive in his ear.  Mattsun his normally quiet self had acknowledged him with his usual tilt of the head, but now he seemed tense in the shoulders.  Never a good sign.  

Then there was Makki, ever present readable Makki.  He had spent enough time with the other to know that his obsessive talk and story-telling was his way  of relieving guilt and tension he felt.  His friend talked a lot, that much was true, but he hadn’t actually stopped talking since they came into the kitchen and it was so unimportant that Iwaizumi couldn’t think of a single topic that Makki was actually discussing.

The reason was obvious when he realized the house _felt_ empty.  Even more so when he didn’t see Kuroo sneaking in to grab something for himself or Oikawa.  Other than Makki’s chatter, the house was oddly silent, to the point that he could hear the tide in the distance. Cullings would start again in a few hours.  If Oikawa and Kuroo weren’t in the house he wanted to at least make sure they were in a safe place before people started heading out to the water to pull Mermaids from their paths.

Ever reading of his moods, his mother reached over and patted his thigh, “Finish your food first,” She said simply.

Just that one sentence had Makki clamming up and Mattsun looking at him with sharp eyes.  It occured to Iwaizumi that he wasn’t informed of anything because they were worried about his wellbeing...again.  Silently he obliged and finished his plate and mug of coffee before putting the dishes in the sink.

“If I go to the bathroom, it’ll be empty?”

“Yes,” His mother answered simply.

“Did they say anything?”

“Not even a note.”

“Asshole,” Iwaizumi muttered under his breath, “I’m assuming they got Oikawa in the ocean so he could recover properly?”

“Seems likely,” Matsukawa answered with his hands folded under his nose, “can’t be certain that they stuck around though.”

Irritation pricked at Iwaizumi’s chest and he a frown overcame his features, “He better have.”

“If he didn’t?” Makki asked hesitantly.

“I’ll track him down,” Iwaizumi answered with a shrug.

“I think,” his mother interrupted as she stood, “that we need to all have a nice long chat about where we are going from here _after_ we clean up.”  

Iwaizumi grimaced, there was no arguing with that tone. That was the mom tone.  No son could win against it.  Habitually, he fell into rhythm with her and, as they so often did, they cleaned.  Plates cleared, leftovers stored and coffee rebrewed.  The table was wiped down and once they were all resituated with a mug of fresh hot coffee did his mother allow conversation.

“The boys told me about dad this morning,” She started albeit pained, “we can go from there.”

“Before you say anything,” Makki spoke up, “Listen to what we have to say.”  

“...Okay,” Iwaizumi agreed hesitantly, looking between Makki and Mattsun.

“First things first,” Mattsun started, “we know you want to go look for him.”

“But,” Makki cut in, “is that really the best idea?   _Listen_ , we just think that you’ve been doing pretty good and we don’t know a lot of things, there are _tons_ of variables.  We have _no_ idea how far away Uncle is, no idea if he’s even himself anymore.  If he’s involved in a war then there’s a good chance that….that…”

“That he’s already gone,” Matsukawa finished, “Plainly put, let’s say you do manage to get yourself a ship, a crew, and directions.  Let’s say you manage to make it to Uncle in one piece and find him.  Who’s to say that you find him alive?  What happens when he’s completely brainwashed and working for Sirens?  Then what?  Worse case scenario?  They finish what they started 7 years ago and Auntie loses all of her family and we lose a friend.”

A hard lump settled in Iwaizumi’s throat, “I know the risks...I know it’s not...ideal but I don’t think he’ll be that far gone.  I just can’t see it.”

“That’s why we don’t think this is a good idea,” Makki pressed, “Worst case, he’s _worse_ than we imagine and neither one of you come home.”

“You don’t get it,” Iwaizumi protested, feeling anger in his gut burning its way up through his fists which curled tightly around his coffee mug, “he’s...so much _stronger_ than me.  If I’m like this, if I’m okay...then he’s got to be fine too.”

“Hajime,” His mom called, her hand coming to rest gently atop of his tightly fisted one, “you have had so much help, so many resources and people who love you.  Dad...dad has been stuck out there with creatures that just want to hurt him.”  Tears flowed down her cheeks, dripping onto the table and splashing outwards, making a mess of her napkins.  

“Mom…” Iwaizumi pleaded, trying to make her understand with just the painful lump in his throat and the warmth of his hand now turning to grasp hers, “You _know_ him.  His strength.”  

“Baby…it’s time to grow up.”  Her lip trembled as she said the words, tears now flooding down her cheeks, “You’re 24, you aren’t a little boy looking up to daddy anymore.  He’s a grown man with weaknesses and flaws, just like anybody else.”  

“I _know_ that!”  Iwaizumi snapped, voice ragged and tears poking at his own eyes, “I of all people know his weaknesses!  I know that he struggles!  I’m not saying he’s perfect but he’s _better_ than me!  I know he’s hanging on!”

“Or is it that you want him to be?”  Matsukawa asked firmly, “You want him to be in there somewhere so you can go play hero and bring him back.  Like that will somehow make everything better and you can appease your sense of guilt for being the reason that he left in the first place.”

               He hadn’t realized he had thrown a punch until it was caught by Makki who had to practically lie across the table to properly grab his wrist.  His chest strained with his ragged breath and cheeks stung with the intensity of his own tears, “ _Fuck you,_ ” he spat venomously.  

 “If the only thing driving you to this is the voice of a Siren and your own guilt, then it’s not a good idea,” Hanamaki stated just as firmly as Matsukawa had been speaking.  Iwaizumi jerked his fist back but Makki kept a tight grip, not allowing the release.

“That’s _not_ what this is about,” Iwaizumi grit out around his clenched teeth and raging breath.

“Then what is it about?” His mother pressed.

“He’s my _dad_ ,” Iwaizumi strained, voice cracking and tears taking on a different meaning with their presence as the anger changed to hurt in his chest.  Hard aching hurt that made his lower lip tremble with its intensity, “even if the chance is practically non-existent I have to try.  He’s my family.”

“He might not even be the same person on the inside,” Makki tried, his own lips pinched tight after he spoke a thin line that hardly wobbled despite the building wetness in his own eyes.  He released Iwaizumi’s wrist and went in for the kill, “What about the family you have _here_.”

“My family here is safe and dad….he already chose a grave, _here_ , on this island,” Iwaizumi stated firmly before turning to his mom, “Do you really not want him home?”

“Of course I do,” She answered in a shallow breath, pulling out her handkerchief to wipe at her eyes with, “but I don’t want that at the cost of a son.”

“You won’t lose me,” Iwaizumi promised.

“You can’t know that,” She refuted.

She was right but he didn’t want to let that thought stick, “Oikawa will help me.”

“You can’t know that for sure either,” Matsukawa sighed while rubbing his thumb in small circles between his eyebrows.

“I know for a fact that Oikawa _and_ Kuroo will help me, whether they want to or not.”

“How?” Makki asked.

“Kuroo said it himself last night, right?  It’s their duty to investigate things like me.  Things that are little abnormalities in their world.  If me having some weird association to Mermaid Heart is what it takes, then they’ll listen.  They said they were bound by law to stick by me right?  Wherever I go…”

“...They follow…” Makki finished.

“And no one likes it when their science project dies,” Iwaizumi added while rubbing away the tears on his face.

“Don’t refer to yourself as their science project,” his mother chided while smacking his arm.  

“He’s strong,” Iwaizumi continued, looking his mother in the eye, “I’ve seen some of the stuff he can do.  He’s fixed my injuries and the whole reason he came to this island….god.  He’s the reason we have Omor’fia―Psychosis Hell.  I think...I’m just guessing, but I think it’s something like what Kuroo mentioned last night.  He said that if you put enough of this...Heart into an object it can become sentient.  Oikawa comes to this island because he says it’s under his protection.  The details are really hazy, I was drunk that night and he only explained it roughly afterwards, but he helps the island by giving Omor’fia Heart.  Like maybe it needs it to live or something but he’s insanely strong.  I got that impression while I was absolutely shitfaced and still _remember_ thinking it.”

It was almost silent before a heavy sigh from the entryway to the kitchen sounded.  All four of them whipped around to see Mamaw leaning against the doorway.  Iwaizumi’s heart started pounding instantly in his chest and his mother stood from her chair―an arm being thrown out in front of the boys in her kitchen.

“I see...so that’s who he is…” She sighed sadly.

“He’s not here and you _can’t_ have him,” Iwaizumi said lowly, muscles tensing for a fight.  It was faint now but he could still barely sense that intense aura that Mamaw had around her the previous day.

“Unfortunate really,” She took a chunk of curly hair to smooth between her fingers, “I was so looking forward to chopping him up.”

Beside him Makki and Mattsun paled, unsure of what Mamaw was referring to as they had missed her visit yesterday.  Iwaizumi stood from his chair to position himself between them and her.  His limbs seemed to vibrate with adrenaline and his breath seemed oddly level for the quick beating of his heart.

“I think you should go,” Iwaizumi said sternly making a note to find Oikawa as soon as possible so she couldn’t get her hands on him.

“Oh relax child,” she sighed before stepping into the kitchen to lean against the wall, still smoothing her curly white locks between her withered knobby fingers, “after hearing _that_ there is no way I can go after him as I long too.  Unfortunate and infuriating as it may be.”

“Why?” His mother demanded.

“Omor’fia does not require Heart for life.  Omor’fia is a receptacle _of_ life.”

“I don’t understand,” Iwaizumi said.

“No,” She sighed, “you wouldn’t.  Your Mermaid has duties far more complex than you can imagine.  If he has stated to you that they are to investigate any instance with creatures abnormal usage of Heart, then he is very prestigious.  Not enough to make me cease my chase but to hear that he is an island’s watcher?  Well, that is a different story altogether.  That would make him a line of royalty, not just prestigious. Far too dangerous to pursue.”

“Explain,” Iwaizumi demanded.  For some reason, he had the feeling that Mamaw was being honest.

“At least offer this old woman a chair, Hajime-chan,” She chided, “One incident and you seem to lose all manners.”  Begrudgingly he offered her a chair to his right, away from everyone else.

“Explain what you mean,” He demanded again.

“Watcher’s are ones who used to come to the surface often in the past.  They were ones who had family that were worshipped on land or they themselves were worshipped.  One thing led to another and Mermaids were pushed back to sea but their roots lie in mankind―a story for a Mermaid to tell, I certainly don’t know all of their tales.  Watchers have a duty bestowed upon them by the gods to aid mankind.  Each is assigned an island―standardly the one they ruled over before their exile to the sea―and they protect it.”

“What do you mean, protect it?” Makki asked, “What does that entail?”

“If an island is not prospering they help its people to prosper, whatever that may mean for the island.  Perhaps better crops, stronger people, more tourism to aid in money distribution.  Heart is a fickle thing, it can change its will with ease even after being sung into the object.”

“Omor’fia?” Iwaizumi asked.

“By the sound of it yes, Omor’fia is Oikawa’s object.  He sings his Heart into the statue and blesses the island.  Non-organic material is hard to work with, it doesn’t hold massive amounts of Heart well and it can leak quite easily from the material.  The organic material around our statue however, it holds onto Heart as tight as it can, refusing to give up even a little bit until it starts to change to develop sentience.  This is where our “Psychosis Hell” comes from.”

“Why do you know this?” Matsukawa asked.

She ignored him and continued, “If Oikawa is using stone as his receptacle then he is quite talented in his abilities.  This suggests he has quite the pedigree, a high royal most likely.  It’s surprising that they let him leave for this long without fuss.  A strong one indeed.” Her black eyes were beady and shimmering with interest as she pressed a knuckle to her teeth, “I do long to cut him open, just to see what he is made of.”

“What _are_ you?” Hanamaki asked disgusted, face white as a sheet.

“But!” She carried on, “I for one live on this island and would like to benefit from it.  It is also more trouble than it’s worth to get involved in such…. _politics_.”  

“Who are you, why do you know this?” Iwaizumi asked firmly reiterating his friends questions while staring Mamaw straight in the eye.

“Oh my dear,” Mamaw smiled, her lips saggy with wrinkled skin and heavy like curtains, “I am a sea witch.”

“A _what_?” Makki asked his voice several octaves higher than normal.

“A very _busy_ sea witch.  I came hoping you would let me take your little Mermaid problem away,” she shrugged looking hopeless, “but I suppose that is not going to happen is it.  I’ll have to make do with what washes up on the shore—I do have clientele to medicate after all.”

“What?” Matsukawa asked, eyebrows scrunched together not quite comprehending her meaning.

“Well dear,” Mamaw chided with a heavy sigh, “culling week only comes around once a year!  I have to gather enough material to provide a year's worth of medications! For several humans!  It is a very busy time of year for me.”

Was she implying...that she...had been intending to use Oikawa for _his_ medication?  Her medications were a product of slaughtered Mermaids lied out on the beach before burning during culling week.  The islanders trusted her, _Iwaizumi_ trusted her.  Iwaizumi had _blindingly_ taken that medication nearly every day for the past _seven years_.  He was going to barf. He could physically _feel_ his face drain of all color and his stomach flip.  

“I would ask if you needed a refill dear,” she pinched Iwaizumi’s cheek, “but I see that you’re so chock full of Heart that it would hardly matter at this point.  Might only hurt you instead.  Do take care on your trip dear, the ocean is not a friendly place.”

With that the little old woman―who was not actually a human at all―hobbled out of his home, slow and careful around the dining room table.  She stopped with a thoughtful finger curled beneath her chin and she turned to face Iwaizumi.  Then, she smiled.

“Oh and Hajime-chan, once you find your Mermaid, make sure the two of you come see me.  I have some information that will prove useful for him.”  She hobbled out of the kitchen and they listened carefully as she continued through the house; the front door swinging shut behind her.

“What the fuck?” Makki gaped before realizing what he said and covering his mouth sharply with a quick, “Sorry Auntie!”

Iwaizumi’s mom crossed her arms and hardly reacted aside from a soft, “What the _fuck_?”

“Mom!”

“Hajime,” She started with a heavy sigh before moving to a cupboard that Iwaizumi knew held nothing more than a few bottles of Sherry, “Be a dear and go into town, I need you to pick up some Whiskey.  This isn’t strong enough.”

“ _Mom_!”  

Twenty minutes later, the three of them were properly washed up with a chunk of money lining their pockets waiting in line at the train station.  With the stormy season in full swing they were armed with emergency water resistant packs for their electronics if the need arose, and ponchos.  The temperature was overall cooler so his mother had ensured that they all wore jackets before leaving.

“...Are we really getting your mom whiskey?” Makki asked, his voice low enough that strangers couldn’t hear him as the train pulled up.

“If we don’t, we can’t go back to my place,” Iwaizumi shrugged, “She’d have a fit.”

“Right…”

“I haven’t seen her drink anything stronger than that Sherry in ages though…”

“Don’t pretend like the Sherry is particularly weak in alcohol content,” Mattsun commented as he stooped his spine to avoid smacking his head on the top of the train doors while stepping into the vehicle.

“Okay but isn’t Whiskey like roughly double the content of Sherry?”

“Roughly,” Iwaizumi agreed.

They fell silent and Iwaizumi directed his attention towards the shore line.  People were starting to gather again for another day of culling.  They probably just came back from a lunch break and were energized and ready to go.  He hoped Oikawa was safe.  He wished the aggravating idiot would have said something before he left.  Like where to find them or something useful.

If he focused hard enough, he could feel emotions that weren’t his own, bubbling deep down beneath his skin.  He tried not to dwell on them for too long, they mostly made him feel bone tired and queasy.  He was certain it was because Oikawa was an idiot and was actually more sick than he ever let on to be in front of Iwaizumi.  If he pushed on he could feel small jitters of nerves and little bursts of something happy.  Something anxious and something...good.

“Do you think the message got through?” Makki asked looking in the same direction that Iwaizumi had spaced off at.

“Huh?”  He asked startled, jerked out of his prying.

“You know...the message Kuroo sent out last night?  About not coming around here for a certain group of...you-know-what’s…”

Oh, he was referring to the Mermaids staying away from the culling shores.  After a quick glance around he realized that there were a few people tuned into their conversation, probably from their talk about whiskey vs. sherry. It explained Makki’s cautionary speech though.  

“Mmm, I hope so,” Iwaizumi answered plainly.

Ten minutes later Iwaizumi motioned for their stop and stood by the doors, Makki and Mattsun following after him, confused, “This isn’t downtown….or the shopping district,” Mattsun pointed out.

“The whiskey mom likes isn’t sold there,” Iwaizumi answered almost hesitantly before biting down on his lower lip.  He probably should have said something about _where_ they were going before blindly bringing the two of them to the outskirts of town.  It tended to make most people uncomfortable.  Himself included.

“But it’s sold...here?” Makki asked as they stepped off the train and onto the platform.  He tried to turn with the flow of people towards the main exit but Iwaizumi grabbed his elbow and turned him in the opposite direction.

“Iwaizumi….” Mattsun started, unsure, “Are we going where I think we’re going?”

“Probably,” Iwaizumi answered around the flesh of his lip, “It’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“It’s not my first time here,” Iwaizumi answered as they approached the rundown nearly abandoned wicket station.  It was so old they couldn’t scan their passcards out and instead had to get their numbers written down by the station master who ordered their stop into the computer system for them.  He offered Iwaizumi the usual half smile and head bob and a fuller bow towards Makki and Mattsun, who returned it just a formally.  

“Why did you even try coming here for whiskey?” Makki piped up after they had left the station which was barred with locked doors monitored by an attendant that had to check their ID’s and mark them down on a list before letting them through.

“Do you really have to ask?” Iwaizumi sighed heavily, “You know those first few years were bad for me, unhealthy coping mechanisms and all.”

Awkward silence fell over them but they continued forward, his friends following after him obediently despite their apprehension.  Iwaizumi understood the feeling, the area was totally overrun with lack of civilization.  There were tall fences all equipped with looped barb wiring around the tops that blocked off any passage way towards sea water.  The land was dry as bone as if the only water it received was during the rainy season, sufficiently flooding the dirt and preventing any growth from actually happening.  There were a few trees but mostly just stumps from where trees had been too close to the fences.  

Then, pressed tight against the fences were men reaching their arms through the holes in the chain link and leaning against the metal until it made indentations in their skin, as if they thought that by trying hard enough they could squish through the diamonds by sheer force of effort. Woeful cries mashed together into one dreadful sound, ringing heavily on their ears.  Walking past them made it clear they were pleading to go.  Pleading to be released into the sea where they had been ordered to sink into by Siren’s of their pasts.  Some of the more put together men were leaning against the walls of a tall establishment where the men were corralled into during bad weather and nights.  Other’s were caught somewhere in between complete madness and balance, stuck pacing the cement, muttering to themselves.  

“What the fuck,” Makki hissed, close enough for his breath to ghost over Iwaizumi’s neck.

“I used to come here a lot,” Iwaizumi admitted, “So I could remind myself what I would become if I ever stopped trying to fight against it.  Not a lot to look forward to so it was pretty effective.”

Pale-faced and wide-eyed, Matsukawa said nothing but Iwaizumi did notice his hand slipped into Makki’s where they squeezed tight.  He tried to ignore the way the comforted each other, pretending that he was fine when he was really focusing on that bundle of feelings that didn’t belong to him to keep himself calm.  He pretended not to feel the intensity of their gaze on the back of his head.  He knew they were thinking about the what-ifs too.  

“It just so happens that one of the guys here makes his own whiskey,” Iwaizumi changed the subject gracefully, the small bundle of emotions stirring in his body; as if it recognized that he was checking in, “small batches, so there might not be any left but he tends to save me a bottle so we might be in luck.”  

“Tends to save you a bottle….” Mattsun repeated thoughtfully.

“Like I said,” Iwaizumi sighed, “I didn’t have good habits but he knows I get it for mom now so he keeps me in good supply.  The only issue is his mentality.  I’m not sure if he’s slipped into...well... _that_ ,” he motioned towards the men at the fences trying just to get a pinky into the waters far away from them, “or if he’s still got enough of a grip to keep making booze.”

“I guess we’ll find out,” Makki laughed awkwardly.

“Yep,” Iwaizumi agreed, popping his P.

It turned out the man was somewhere in between, squinting at Iwaizumi like he could just barely recognize him.  Then just before comprehension seemed as if it would settle on his features, his face―scruffy and dirt splattered―would scrunch up again in confusion.  His teeth had yellowed and were beginning to rot from the lack of care, dark blotches of infection sat on his gums and ate away at the bone below them. His hands, however, Iwaizumi noticed as they came to cup his face, were nearly pristine, like he hadn’t quite lost the cognitive ability to know that clean hands were essential for good whiskey.  They only seemed too dry, cracked and rough in a way that suggested hand lotion was hard to come by.  That seemed clue enough that he hadn’t fully lost his mind to the song.

“Mother?”

Or perhaps he had.

“No, Eustass,” Iwaizumi said while bringing his hand up to cover the others, “It’s Hajime.”

“Hajime?”

“Yeah, my mom asked for something good to drink and I only knew one man who could provide that,” Iwaizumi started, making certain to enunciate properly, “You know who could do that for me?”

“Oh _Hajime!_ ” Eustass gasped in recognition his breath rotten like his teeth, “It has been too long!”

“It has,” Iwaizumi agreed with a nod as the man whirled around on his feet and began rummaging through wooden boxes and loose strips of cardboard.  He emerged with a smaller crate and pushed it into Iwaizumi’s hands, “This seems bigger than usual…”

“Of course, of course!” Eustass agreed while pulling out a bottle of hand sanitizer and pumping enough into the palm of his hand that it had started to overflow onto the floor.  As he rubbed his hands together and scrubbed his palms up and down his arms his skin began to redden, irritated by too much sanitizer and not enough moisturizer.  It looked painful, “Only the best for mother!”

“You mean...my mom?” Iwaizumi asked confused.  Eustass had never referred to his mom as ‘mother’ preferring to use the traditional ‘sister’ for someone near his age group.  

“No no!” Eustass exclaimed before he noticed Matsukawa and Hanamaki still lingering in the doorway, “Friends! Do come in! Please, please don’t hesitate!” He pulled them in by their elbows and pushed on their shoulders until they were both awkwardly sitting on two moldy boxes.  They gave each other questioning looks and tried to wave off the tea offered to them but it was pressed into their hands.  Iwaizumi didn’t even try to hide his snicker.  

“Eustass,” Iwaizumi called, “how are you holding up?”

Eustass turned to him and for a moment it seemed as if he wasn’t even there.  Like he was an empty shell firing off synapse after synapse to control blank motor functions that served no purpose other than a cheap imitation of life.  Then, a wobbly smile overtook his face and his grey eyes turned watery as he pressed his dry lips back down against each other; trying to control the expression and losing.  Instead he cupped both hands around Iwaizumi’s face and let out a shaky breath.  Tears beading in the corner of his eyes.

Guiltily, Iwaizumi tried to apologize for bringing up raw emotions but Eustass’ sniffling cut him off.  Frantically he tried to hand the box over to Makki so he could attempt to fix his mistake but Eustass pressed his hands tight against Iwaizumi’s and shook his head, “No, no you keep it.  Mother deserves the best.”

“Are you talking about me?” Iwaizumi asked desperately, trying to figure out where Eustass’ mind had gone off to.

“You aren’t quite her though, are you?” Eustass asked sadly, his smile trembling down into nothing but a wobbly line, one tear falling down his dirty face.  Then a second and a third.

“Eustass,” Iwaizumi started on a breath, “I don’t...what are you…”

Eustass brought his shaking hands back up to Iwaizumi’s face, face bittersweet with rolling tears and attempting to bring back his smile, “You look just like mother.”

“Mother?”

“She calls to me you know,” Eustass admitted while smoothing back Iwaizumis’ fringe and sniffing hard, “You hear her too, don’t you?  You glow like her.  Not in the face, oh no, no, no.  You look like her here,” and he pressed a finger to Iwaizumi’s forehead.

“Um…,” He looked to his friends for help but only found expressions that were as lost as he felt.

“Do you know what mother says? Do you hear?” Eustass continued, stepping closer to Iwaizumi until his abdomen was pressed flush against the box between them.  He leaned forward until his cheek brushed Iwaizumi’s and his lips were only a hair from his ear, “She says you’re a murderer!”

Iwaizumi’s shoulders jerked upwards and he tried to push Eustass away, heart fluttering into his ears.  He didn’t need to hear the crazy ramblings of someone lost to his own mind.  Eustass slapped his hands down lightning fast over Iwaizumi’s shoulders and gripped him until Iwaizumi let out of grunt of pain; prompting his friends to stand and ditch the tea that had been forced upon them.

 “Eustass, let go,” Iwaizumi pleaded firmly, trying to look unbothered.

“Murderers don’t have to be murderers,” Eustass laughed hysterically against his skin, “There’s always another way! Mother says you’re a murderer! You don’t have to hurt your family!”

“Eustass stop!” Iwaizumi yelped, his heart pounding in his chest, as the man’s fingers dug further still into his shoulders; finding tender muscles and sore spots.  For the first time in his life he found himself wishing that Oikawa were there to help—to do something with his Heart and give Iwaizumi the opportunity to calm down.  He wanted to grab it and hold on but with Eustass yelling in his ear and clutching onto him, he couldn’t find the opportunity himself.  He was at the mercy of his pounding blood and too loud heart.  

“Mother says to be a good boy! Be a good boy, Hajime-boy! Be good!” Eustass rambled voice getting progressively louder as both Makki and Mattsun pried him off of Iwaizumi, “LISTEN TO MOTHER!  Listen to yourself!  Mother is us! Mother is _you_!”

Iwaizumi’s heart jumped into his throat, pounding hard and fast to where he could feel it pulsing in his head.  He felt a pull against it there like something _was_ talking to him.  Terrified that losing one’s mind had suddenly become contagious, he tried to shut it out.  Tried to ignore the odd sense that _something_ was there with him.  His heart stopped in his throat and he had to fully concentrate on shutting everything out and keeping his sanity.

 Finally Makki and Mattsun succeeded in prying the man off of his shoulders and Makki hooked an arm around Iwaizumi’s shoulders, escorting him out of the small room Eustass had made for himself without giving Iwaizumi a chance to say a word.  Mattsun stayed behind to ensure that Eustass wouldn't follow after them, catching up as they rounded the corner at the end of the hall.  

“I’m fine,” Iwaizumi insisted as Makki kept a firm hand on his back, Mattsun flanking his other side with short jogging steps as he caught up, “I’m _fine_!”

“No one said you weren’t,” Mattsun answered calmly, “but I don’t think it’s safe for you go to back in there right now.”

“I think it’s best we take our leave,” Makki answered firmly, though his gaze was shifty.

Iwaizumi understood, he really did, this area was intimidating at best and terrifying at worst; for all parties involved.  However, at the end of the day, Eustass was still someone he considered himself to be friends with and to see him in such anguish was heartbreaking.  It didn’t sit right with him to just leave as they were but he understood, going back could make things worse.  After all he hardly recognized Iwaizumi anymore and just spending such a short amount of time with him made it feel like Iwaizumi was losing his mind all over again.

“What was he talking about?” Makki asked suddenly, “That murderer stuff…”

“I’m not sure…” Iwaizumi admitted quietly his heart settling back into something more regular with each step away from the facility he took, “I might have said something to him while I was drunk a long time ago and he just kept a hold of it but...I honestly…”

“What might you have said?” Mattsun asked, his gaze calculating against Iwaizumi’s body, as if he were trying to assess him right there.

“The only thing I could think of, is that I felt like I had murdered my dad…you know? Been the one that pushed him away and it would be because of me that he died.  I know that’s not... _entirely_ true now,” Iwaizumi admitted with a heavy sigh as he shifted the gifted box in his hands, “but sometimes the feeling arises.”

“And back when you came here more often?” Mattsun prompted.

“It was constant,” Iwaizumi said with a short shrug, the crate shifting in his hold, “not so much now.”

“Thanks to therapy?” Makki asked while digging his ID out of his pocket for the attendant to examine before the locked doors were opened for them.

“Yeah,” Iwaizumi agreed, “thanks to therapy.”

“You were so pissed back then,” Makki snickered softly, pulling Iwaizumi’s wallet out of his back pocket for his ID.

“I thought you’d cut us out for sure,” Mattsun added dryly handing over his ID as well.

“I think I intended to for a long time but I guess that’s just impossible,” Iwaizumi laughed, “I’m stuck with you two for forever I guess.”

“Indeed,” Makki grinned, showing all of his teeth as the door was buzzed open for them and they passed through, “ _Mother_.”

“Oh my god,” Iwaizumi huffed caught somewhere between amusement and annoyance, “shut up.  I don’t know where that came from, honestly!  I’m no one’s mother!”

“You seem _motherly_ enough to me,” Matsukawa insisted with an arm around Iwaizumi’s shoulders and his head resting on his bicep―spine swooped down at an awkward angle to match Iwaizumi’s height.

“ _Enough_!” Iwaizumi scolded as they handed over their passcards to the wicket attendant

“Yes, mother,” Both Hanamaki and Matsukawa answered like dutiful sons.  

Iwaizumi rolled his eyes but couldn’t keep the amused grin off his face.  Instead he lead the way down to the subway where they rode back into the countryside.  Makki and Mattsun both falling into a light sleep on either of his shoulders.  Their weight comforting and familiar lulling him into such a relaxed state that he nearly missed his own stop.  He jerked them into awareness with his own panicked jump and they hurriedly escaped through the train doors before they closed and the train turned the last stop into the first.

“Thanks for waking us up,” Makki started with a large shit eating grin and Iwaizumi knew it was coming.

“ _Mother_ ,” Mattsun finished with an equally awful grin.

“Assholes,” Iwaizumi grumbled good naturedly.

He bumped both of them once with his shoulders, weight enhanced with the solid box held in his arms.  It was only after they snickered about their off put weight and future bruising that Iwaizumi realized he should have confirmed the contents of the box before blindly taking it home.  Then he realized he didn’t even _pay_ Eustass in their hurry to leave. He decided he wouldn’t feel _too_ bad if the product wasn’t correct and if it was...well he was used to the guilt anyway.

Just as they began to ascend the steps to the house, clouds began to accumulate.  They could probably expect another storm for the day.  They hurried into the house before the first drops of rain could fall and gathered into the kitchen where his mother was sitting looking tired with a stern faced Kuroo sitting across from her.  

His complexion seemed pale and his legs, bare, were jittering and littered with scales―which fell off with small _clinks_ onto the kitchen floor with each bounce.  As soon as the three of them stepped into his line of sight he was out of the kitchen chair and hurrying towards Iwaizumi, his expression shifting to one of anger with each step.  His clouded eyes and wild hair was enough to make Iwaizumi apprehensively take a step back.

“Don’t you pull that kind of _shit_ again!” Kuroo hissed, nose pressing against Iwaizumi’s with how close he had come.

“ _What_?!” Lost, Iwaizumi scrambled backwards and tried to figure out what he wasn’t supposed to be doing.

“Back the hell off!” Makki ground out from between his teeth as he wormed his way between the two of them.

“Tetsurou-san,” Iwaizumi’s mother spoke up her voice frigid with forced politeness that stopped Kuroo in his tracks, “Could you simply tell my son what you’ve shared with me?  Perhaps then he’ll understand why you are so upset.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Kuroo responded so meekly that his earlier bravado seemed to be a joke, “Sorry ma’am.”  

“Mmhumm,” she hummed knowingly while shuffling her way to Iwaizumi, greeting him with a soft kiss to his forehead―which he bent to give her habitually―and she slipped the crate from his arms.  Humming a soft tune, she cracked the box open, making an appreciative sound as she pulled a bottle from the shredded packing paper it was half buried in.    

“That’s probably the last of it,” Iwaizumi mentioned to his mother while giving a nervous glance to Kuroo, who despite backing down still looked as if a storm of his own were brewing behind his eyes, “Eustass isn’t doing very well anymore.”

“Oh?” His mother acknowledged softly, “That’s unfortunate, will they move him to the main facility?”

“Probably soon,” Iwaizumi agreed before reluctantly switching his attention to Kuroo, who looked as if he might burst, “Did you move Oikawa?”

Kuroo gave an exasperated breath and pushed a still webbed hand through his bed head before dragging the hand down his face as if he couldn’t believe the scene before his eyes.  A scale peeled from his skin and dropped to the kitchen floor, “You’re going to be trouble for me,” Kuroo sighed, as if he wasn’t already.

“Sorry?” Iwaizumi offered questionably.  He wasn’t entirely sure how to respond to that.

“You should be,” Kuroo huffed, “How do you think a human, of all creatures, ends up sending a distress signal via Heart to another creature?”

“Um...I’m not sure?”

“No one is,” Kuroo huffed, hands on his hips and frowning, “but here, you’ve done it.”

“What?”

“Approximately one hour ago Oikawa receives a distress signal from something that he describes as _‘mirror-like.’_  The only thing that would be remotely mirror like to him is something that had massive amounts of his own Heart stuffed into it.  One’s mind would first go to his statue which he dutifully assists.  Statues don’t become sentient and the plant life around it is too scattered to be sentient _enough_ for something as civilized as a _distress signal_.  Are you catching on yet?”  Kuroo asked his words punctuated with irritation.

“So you think _I_ did this...signal thing?” Iwaizumi asked confused, “Like..echolocation or something?”   

“Do you just think of us as Dolphins?” Kuroo asked with a burdened sigh, “Fine. Fine, yes, like echolocation.”

“So it’s... _not_ echolocation?” Iwaizumi asked hesitantly expecting the heavy sigh he earned after that.

“No, but if that’s what helps you to grasp the barest concept of this, then fine.  Think of it as echolocation with feelings and words.”

“Seems complex,” Matsukawa commented dryly from where he was leaning against the door frame, arms crossed.  

“I suppose it can be,” Kuroo admitted.

“So...you want me to not send a distress signal again?” Iwaizumi asked feeling a little hopeless, “Sorry but I’m not even certain how I did it in the first place? If it was me?”

“It had to be you,” Kuroo answered, “because I ended up feeling one too.”

“I’m confused,” Makki cut in, “I thought this went to Oikawa.”

“Distress signals can be borrowed links,” Kuroo started, “Think of it as someone calling your emergency services, the police hotline.  Your―what is it―operative?”

“The operator?” Iwaizumi tried.

“Yes, that,” Kuroo nodded thankfully, “they recognize that this person needs help beyond what they can offer so they contact other people to aid them, yeah?”

“Like EMS?” Matsukawa offers.

“Sure,” Kuroo agrees, although Iwaizumi thinks he may not know what EMS means, “this is all done on a telephone line right?  Sometimes when the information is filtered through a third party―the operator―things get muddled.  So instead EMS takes a direct line to the person calling for help.”

“Like the operator transfers the call over to EMS?”

“No, no, no,” Kuroo huffs, “Listen, the operator is the third party.  They originally got the call but can’t help.  So EMS takes the direct line.”

“Yeah but the one who has to transfer them is the operator,” Makki insists, “Otherwise how would ambulances or anything know where to go?”

“Not necessarily,” Kuroo says, his finger wagging in the air, “sometimes the ambulance is with the operator.”

“So they just hand the phone over,” Iwaizumi adds.

“No!” Kuroo huffs, “There isn’t _really_ a phone involved here!”

Iwaizumi’s mom sighs and takes a drink of the whiskey, straight from the bottle, before walking over to Iwaizumi and pressing her hand against his bare skin, “What do you feel?” She asks him.

“Uh, your hand is cold?” He offers.

“Okay, but only Mattsun’s sweater is good for me so could you let him know?” She asks.

“Um, yeah,” Iwaizumi agrees, confusion pressing his brows together.

“Better hurry, I might get hypothermia and die you know,” She comments dryly before sipping from the whiskey bottle again.

“Mattsun, my mom is cold and needs a sweater…” Iwaizumi dutifully relays the information only for his mother to tut her tongue and press her hand to her forehead.

“My own son,” She mutters, “Didn’t you listen? I said _only Mattsuns_ sweater was good enough for me.  Not just _any_ sweater.”  

“What’s the difference?” Iwaizumi huffed feeling desperate and embarrassed to just get to the point already.

“You’re the operator,” She said flatly, “You’ve muddled the information I had to get what I need.  Now the third party doesn’t know _exactly_ what I need.”

“...Oh,”

Matsukawa had pulled his sweater off by this point and upon realizing that Iwaizumi’s mother didn’t actually need it, he was hurriedly trying to put it back on; pink dusting his cheeks.  Iwaizumi offered him a short shrug in apology.  His mother took another sip and Kuroo shifted his weight on his feet, arms falling crossed over his chest.  Makki looked on as if he were starting to put the pieces together and had nearly solved the puzzle.  

“Now,” his mother said with a short sigh, “Let’s pretend like we’re doing this over again.  I’ve told you I need Mattsuns’ sweater.  You know I need his sweater but you don’t want to mess up the request right?”

“Right.”

“So you tell Mattsun that he needs to listen to me,” She motioned at him to say the words when Iwaizumi just stood there.

Feeling very ridiculous he looked to Mattsun, “My mom wants to talk to you?”

“Now,” his mother interrupted before Mattsun could start a conversation, “this isn’t actually an in person conversation nor is a phone line.  It’s something more….well strange to be frank.  So you do the same thing to Mattsun that I’ve done to you.”

“Which is?” Iwaizumi trailed off, unsure.

“I’ve physically touched you but let’s pretend like I’ve done this...distress calling thing and we are actually miles apart.”

“Um...okay.”

“We’ll just use touch to represent the echolocation distressing.”

Kuroo looked like he was about to have his own aneurysm at that description.  Iwaizumi could practically see him restraining himself on correcting any terminology. He stifled the snickers that bubbled from his chest and tried to appear to be serious when confronted with _the mom look_.  

“So go on,” She shooed him towards Mattsun, “go use your psychic ability and let your friend know I need him.”

“Erm...right,” Iwaizumi muttered feeling very odd as he pressed his hand to Matsukawa’s arm, “My mom needs you?”

“Good,” his mom said with a short nod, “Now Mattsun knows he needs to reach out to me,” she gestured for him to reach out and touch her arm.  Matsukawa did as he was told and instantly started to take off his sweater again.

“You really are cold,” he muttered as he handed over the fabric.

“Thank you,” his mother said with a soft smile before putting the sweater on, “and now it’s complete.”

“Um...okay?”

“So in this scenario,” Makki started, “Auntie is Hajime, Hajime is Oikawa, and Mattsun is...Kuroo?”

“Yes!” Kuroo nearly yelled sounding excited.

It began to click into place for Iwaizumi, “So I somehow send out this _signal_ to Oikawa who thinks I need your help so you...reach out to me?”

“Yes!” Kuroo encourages enthusiastically his hands rising up at his sides to express his excitement.

“So...then what?”

“Then _you shut me out_ ,” Kuroo hissed looking clouded and angry again, “the one thing you should _never_ do!”

“Shut you out?”

“As soon as I finally get connected to you, which took time might I add,” Kuroo huffed looking troubled, “you shut me out.  Like you realized someone was there _finally_ and forced me out.”

“Realized?” Makki asked as Iwaizumi tried to think back to feeling anything like this.

“If someone is making a connection with you, distress signal or something else, then it’s not like you don’t know it.  The way this connection is made is with Heart and each Heart has a distinctive presence.  You may not recognize the Hearts specific pattern but you will recognize something that’s different than your own.  You’ll know if someone is trying to reach you.  It makes sense that little Hajime-chan didn’t realize Oikawa was trying to pull back at him since he’s been stuffed full of his Heart for so long.  He’s probably used to the feeling and it no longer seems intrusive.”

“That...makes sense,” Iwaizumi admitted.  It had been a long time since the feeling of something foreign being with him felt uncomfortable.  It seemed like a new normal now.

“The only thing I can speculate,” Kuroo sighed, “is that the only experience you’ve had with my heart was a negative one that caused your balance to tip and anything remotely similar to that feeling makes you shut down against it.”

“Oh...shit,” Iwaizumi gaped, “I _do_ actually remember this…”

Kuroo’s head popped up his expression open and shocked.  He hurriedly moved forward, eyes darkening in confusion then his lips pressing tightly together and his fingers curling under his chin, toes tapping wetly against the floor, “Go on, share with the class.”

“When we were with Eustass and he started freaking out,” Iwaizumi said to Makki and Mattsun.

“When he grabbed you?”

“Yeah,” Iwaizumi agreed, “I remember it freaked me out but I was more scared thinking about how that could have been me, or how Eustass could just disappear one day and I wouldn’t even know it until the next time I go back to the Outskirts.  Then I remember feeling like something was _in my head_ and that was _worse_ and I just thought, if I pretend like it’s not there, if I shut it out, it’ll be fine.”

“Unbelievable,” Kuroo muttered into his hand while pacing across the kitchen, “can’t even do basic defense but _blocks_ me.  Un-fucking-believable.”    

“I’m...sorry?” Iwaizumi offered half-heartedly.

“Listen,” Kuroo huffed like he was trying to stay calm but was actually raging on the inside, “if you send out a distress signal―especially to someone whose _job_ it is to be on protection detail―and you _block_ them.  That pretty much signifies that you _know_ ―not think, not have a feeling that―actually _know_ that you aren’t going to make it out of whatever conflict that you’re in and that you’re telling this person, _who you asked for help,_ that your corpse isn’t worth the retrieval because the likelihood that they end up the same as you is too high.”  

The reality of the situation settled on Iwaizumi’s shoulders.  Somehow he had done something that humans weren’t supposed to do―something he felt was a reoccurring theme with him―and then botched it up and made things worse.  This was getting exhausting, weighing on his shoulders like physical weight.  With a heavy sigh he slipped the bottle from his mother's fingers and took a mouthful before sinking down into a kitchen chair fighting back the swell of emotion building in his chest.

“Why am I like this?” He questioned to no one in particular, “Why is this happening?”

“None of this,” Mattsun chided while slipping the bottle back out of his fingers, “No more for Auntie, either,” he said with a firm look towards Iwaizumi’s mother who only raised her eyebrow at him but didn’t protest.  The bottle was put off to the side.

“How do I stop it?” Iwaizumi asked through a heavy sigh.

“Not sure,” Kuroo said as he slid into the seat across from Iwaizumi, “I’m too young to have experienced something like this….in all of the history I know it’s never happened.  I could try and have you attempt it like Mermaids are taught but it would all be theoretical.”

“Oh? Are you our age?” Makki asked, sitting next to Iwaizumi and squeezing his hand.  Appreciative, Iwaizumi squeezed it back.

“Uh, sure,” Kuroo nodded, “I guess you could say that it’s the equivalent of human years.”

“How old are you really?” Matsukawa asked skeptically, pulling out a chair for Iwaizumi’s mother.

“Mmm roughly 200 or so?  I’ve lost count to be honest,” Kuroo shrugged, “still pretty young for us.”

There was a moment of silence before Hanamaki scoffed, “Yeah pretty young.”

“Anyway,” Kuroo sighed, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the table, “I guess the important thing here is you.”

“Me…” Iwaizumi trailed off.

“What do you want?”

“I want to get my dad,” Iwaizumi answered immediately, “So I want to find a ship...and a crew.”

“I see,” Kuroo said with a nod, folding his fingers together and resting his chin on them, “and then what?”

“...I guess I’ll just have to play it by ear,” Iwaizumi answered carefully aware that his friends were still itching to disagree with him.  

Kuroo hummed as if he were processing the response, his eyes cold and calculating, “What happens when you can’t save him?”

“You don’t know I can’t,” Iwaizumi fought stubbornly, “I might not even need to.”

“I see,” Kuroo repeated before sitting back in his chair with a heavy sigh, “What if I tell you that you have pretty much no chance surviving if you do find him?  His protection detail is strong, some of the best Siren’s have to offer.  Not to mention no one is sure how stable his mentality is.  If what you say is true then they’ve spent years preparing him to enter this war.  He’s only appeared recently despite you saying he’s been gone for years; he might not be the same person you know in your memories.”

“I’ll figure it out,” Iwaizumi insisted through stubbornly clenched teeth.

“So you have no plan, no brains, and you’re just riding in on pure faith that you’ll one: be able to find him and two: be strong enough to bring him home?  Then what?”

“I’ll figure it out when I get to it.”

“That’s a shitty battle plan,” Kuroo said frankly.

Iwaizumi hated how relieved his friends looked, hated how honest to god happy his mother seemed at these answers.  Rage bubbled in his belly, how dare they think so little of his father that a few negative rumors was enough basis to leave him behind.  That those horrid words were reason enough to hang a man out to dry.

“And when I go anyway?” Iwaizumi challenged.  

“...Well,” Kuroo inhaled like he knew this is where the conversation was always going to go, “you’ll probably die just looking for him.  Any navigator you manage to scrape up will be susceptible to a Siren attack, yourself included.  The most likely event is you all end up as Siren fodder, the next likely being you as little Siren soldiers.”

“We have methods of defense against Sirens for sailing,” Iwaizumi defended bitterly, “I’m not saying we’ll make it through without bumps but I don’t think it’s hopeless.”

“Yet you have no plan, no crew, no ship, and no actual way of protecting yourself.  I’ve seen these _defense methods_ and they’re just child’s play.  The only effective piece is the ear covers and even then it’s not the best.  Sure you can’t hear the song, but Siren’s evolve.  They have other ways to lure in victims.  You’re underestimating the enemy,” Kuroo said bluntly, “You’ll die before you stop to get new supplies.”

“Even still,” Iwaizumi persisted, “knowing all of that, I’ll still go.”

Kuroo huffed and leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest he pressed his lips out in an honest to god _pout_ , “The two of you are going to be the death of me.  So fucking stubborn.”

“What are you saying?” Iwaizumi’s mom asked, hesitating to speak up, fear crinkling away in her crows-feet.

“I mean that Oikawa is refusing to leave here, even for a few days and we _have_ to figure out what is going on with _him_ ,” he gestured to Iwaizumi, “before we make an attempt at traveling back home, which Oikawa is all too eager to avoid.”  Kuroo sighed and titled his head back, letting his forearm rest over his eyes.

“Where is he anyway?” Iwaizumi asked, “Can’t be here, I’d have heard his complaining by now if he were.”

Kuroo managed a meager chuckle, “I left him in our hiding spot to soak and before you ask, he’s fine.  If he weren’t I’d get an alert.”  Kuroo tapped on his forehead twice, “He’s been pinging in constantly, asking about his _precious Iwa-chan_.  Annoying.”

“That’s embarrassing,” Iwaizumi grumbled mostly to himself.

“Tell me about it,” Kuroo scoffed.

“You aren’t really going to let him go, are you?” Makki asked, his eyes burning bright and fierce as he stared Kuroo down, “You said it yourself.  Iwaizumi would die if go goes.  You have to keep him alive right? You wouldn’t let him leave the island because it’s safe.”

“Not necessarily,” Kuroo shrugged, “I’m sure it would be easy to keep him relatively confined to the island.  Not too easy to find a willing crew or a ship that would cart his ass around the ocean on a suicide mission.  Causing a few extra storms to keep him on shore would be like child's play for Tooru; could probably do that in his sleep.”

His mother and both friends looked instantly relieved with relaxed shoulders and relieved breaths.  Makki had the nerve to shoot him an apologetic look but Iwaizumi was unshaken.  He already knew he would be going against everything they wanted for him but this was one of those times where he had to do what _he_ wanted.

“But…?” He prompted Kuroo.

“But I get the feeling he’s a stubborn little shit and we do need him to be cooperative to figure out how the hell he’s come to be able to manipulate Heart and hold as much of it as he is.  I’m sure at some point he’d manage an escape and I’d rather be with him than trying to track him down all the damn time.  Shit is exhausting.  A little field trip away from other humans also offers the chance at experimentation. I’ve got a few things I’d like to set up for him to test out but if there’s any blowback….well there won’t really be much of an island left after it.  So in short, keeping him and Tooru happy makes work easier for me.”

“You can’t let him go!” Makki protested.

“You can’t make him stay,” Kuroo shrugged, “It seems to me that he’s already made up his mind anyway.”    

“Doesn’t his _safety_ come first?!” Matsukawa pointed out, concern twisting his eyebrows downwards and coloring his words with emotion.

“Tooru and I will both be there,” Kuroo shrugged, “I’ll probably pull some of my team too, grab some of our scientists off unit for a little field trip.  If everything goes well, he’ll just end up burning off all of this extra heart and go back to being a cute little normal human again.”

“Boys,” Iwaizumi’s mother called softly, her hands coming out to cover the tops of one of theirs, “I know my son and I’d rather him leave without regrets or broken friendships.  It pains me to admit it but I was never able to stop him from leaving.  All this time, I’ve only been pushing back the departure date.  I’ve always known that but…”

“Mom…”

“Not yet,” his mother protested, “a few more days at least.  A few more weeks…”

“C’mon,” Iwaizumi attempted to come off with a joking manner but it sounded strained, “I don’t even have a ship yet…”

“You have time,” Kuroo answered with a stressed sigh and a firm squeeze to the back of his neck, “I won’t allow for departure until Tooru is back up to health and until the rest of my team arrives.  All of this depends on what Tooru wants to do anyway.  In the end, this is just talk and he gets final say.”  

“Okay,” Iwaizumi agreed, confident that Oikawa would be eager to go, “Let’s go talk to him.”

Kuroo twisted in his chair to look out the kitchen window, he took a breath and eyed the gathering clouds, “Alright,” he finally agreed, “we have some time before the storm hits.”

“Bring coats,” Iwaizumi’s mom ordered knowing that there was no stopping this, “I’ll make something warm for when you all come back.”

“Thanks,” Iwaizumi said before pressing a chaste kiss to her cheek, “we won’t be long.”

“I’m sure,” She said with a sad looking smile, her eyes downturned and lingering on his face before she turned to give Mattsun his jacket back.

“I can take a different one,” Mattsun insisted, trying to move past her before she could fully remove the garment.

“Nonsense,” She protested, “this one is much too big for me anyway.  You need it and I have several.”

“...Thank you,” Mattsun acquiesced.  

Together, the four of them headed out to the shoreline where Kuroo led them around any lingering cullers looking―and failing―to find their next kill.  They hardly gave them a second glance if they noticed them.  Iwaizumi had a feeling it was because of him.  Typically if it was known that someone had been infected with a song and they were surrounded but such serious looking people―by the shore no less―it wasn’t anything people wanted their noses in.  That alone was enough to keep them away.

Eventually, the shore roughened to where no culler wanted to be, lest they find themselves at a disadvantage with a Mermaid.  Where the tide was rough and could come in fast at any given moment with no warning.  It would pull the creature back into the water, giving it the perfect opportunity to overthrow a culler.  No one wanted to take such chances so they stayed away.  Kuroo probably had a good eye to notice it among the rocks and rough sea.  Iwaizumi glanced at the Mermaid who had pulled off the shirt he was given, presumably by Iwaizumi’s mother, as well as the shorts and waded into the water; sinking down until there was a faint red glow and they saw the fin from his tail peek from the water.

“Just a minute and I’ll be right back,” Kuroo said while scales began pushing their way up through the skin on his arms.

“Sure,” Makki agreed with a forced smile.  

Tense silence fell upon them and Iwaizumi knew they were both formulating the best mental argument they could to keep Iwaizumi from being allowed to go.  The thought seemed odd to him, he was an adult, he didn’t need anyone’s permission.  He could do as he pleased and the consequences were his to bear. He had been with Oikawa for so long now, it felt like he already knew things were going to go his way.  He knew how to make them go as he wanted, he’d had a month of practice.  Things would be fine.

Still, it seemed as if ages passed before Oikawa’s head popped up from the surface of the water, bright and smiling like he had never suffered the cramped space of Iwaizumi’s bathtub.  For a moment a rush of emotion so strong he couldn’t label it overcame him and tears pricked at his eyes as he waved back; a genuine smile over his face.

“What’s with you?” Makki asked bemused pointing out the tears lining his eyes.

Iwaizumi laughed, “I think I’m just happy to see him?  I think I missed him!”  

He laughed harder at the thought, absurd as it was he didn’t find it hard to believe.  He didn’t miss the look Makki and Mattsun shared but couldn’t quite figure out what the silent communication they were having detailed.  Deciding he didn’t care he crossed his arms and tried to look like the giant fucking grin on his face was a choice and not something he couldn’t hold back even if he tried.  Judging by Oikawa’s glinting eyes and shit eating grin, he could determine that it didn’t work.  

He crossed his arms and shifted his weight to one leg, looking down at Oikawa as he wiggled his way onto the sand only to be dragged back into the water by Kuroo who ordered him to keep his gills wet.  Oikawa rolled his eyes but did sink down until his neck was mostly covered by the moving water.

“Good to see Death kicked you off his doorstep,” Iwaizumi quipped.

“Oh _haha_ , Iwa-chan,” Oikawa huffed, “I’ve never been to such a place!”  

“Whatever,” Iwaizumi laughed, “anyway, listen―,”

“―Tetsu-chan already filled me in,” Oikawa interrupted, “I won’t allow it.”

“Wait...what?” Iwaizumi asked dumbfounded.  

“Just that,” Oikawa said while bringing his nails up to inspect them, Kuroo sighing at his side, “I won’t allow Iwa-chan to go on some suicide mission.”

He could practically see the _thank gods_ forming on both Makki and Mattsun’s lips before they wisely said nothing.  Why couldn’t anyone understand that this was his _father_ at risk.  This was his _family_ that he had _finally_ gotten word of!  What was so wrong with wanting to protect that?  What was so bad about wanting to fight for that?

“Hajime―” Makki started his voice sounding out a warning but Iwaizumi could hardly pay attention when all he saw was red.

“―WHAT THE _FUCK_ DO YOU KNOW?!” He yelled startling both Mermaids in the water with the sudden outburst, “What makes you think I need your _permission_ to go?!”

“Hajime, hang on―,” Makki tried again reaching an arm out.  Iwaizumi smacked it away, the noise sharp in his ears, bordering on too much.  

“NO!” He roared fed up with his supposed friends, “I’m am so _sick_ of everyone here thinking they can tell me what to do with my life!  Suicide mission or not, I’m _going_!”

“I’d like to see you try,” Oikawa said firmly, clouds darkening with his words and a light drizzle starting to fall.

“Oh _fuck off_ shittykawa,” Iwaizumi sneered with an eye roll, “You think that if you can keep me here I’ll be nice and safe and warm?”  He gave a dry laugh angered even by the tears pressing at his eyes, “Well newsflash, I’ll just end up dead either way!”

“Hajime you―,”

“―SHUT _UP_ , Hanamaki,” Iwaizumi hissed pushing his friends shoulders, once, twice, three times until he stumbled back, “if I don’t die on some _suicide mission_ to save my dad then I’ll just _die_ here!  Didn’t you realize it earlier today?  There is no _good_ endgame for me!  I either become Eustass and die little by little until everyone I know leaves me hung out to dry because I’m too crazy to deal with or I end up like literally any other outcast!  Griping everyday about how I need to get back in the _shitty_ ocean to appease this _shitty_ song and kill my _shit_ _self_!”

“You know that’s not―,”

“― _not true_?!” Iwaizumi asked hysterically, “What the fuck do you _think_ is going to happen?  I’ll magically get better?  I’ll live a normal life and have 2.5 kids and a wife by 25?  Are you _insane_?!  Just hearing my name makes people leave the vicinity!  Are you _high_?!  The only one crazy enough to be around me is _you two assholes_ and you really think _that’s_ going to last?!”

“You don’t?” Matsukawa tried, putting a hand on Makki’s shoulder to try and give him some sort of comfort.

“ _Nothing was made to last_!” Iwaizumi yelled, his vocal cords straining with the high pitch he had rose to yell in, “Absolutely nothing!  Look around you!  Everything we see, everything we are is just _temporary_!  Relationships, people, friends, life!  It all changes and there’s nothing that can be done to stop it from leaving but god fucking _damn it_ , if I want to try and take something back with my own damn hands, _I will_!  You two still have both of your parents!  Fuck you for trying to deny me _mine_!  Fuck you for trying to stop me from making just _one_ _thing_ last just _a little bit longer_!”  

His phone chose that moment to go off, loudly ringing in his pocket and the sound only frustrated him more.  Almost as if he were having an out of body experience he felt himself jerking his hand into his pocket to grab the device before screaming some profanity and chucking it the fuck into the ocean.  Everyone started into motion at that.  Makki and Mattsun bringing up surrendering hands and Kuroo pushing Oikawa’s head down so he wouldn’t suffer a direct hit from the phone and Iwaizumi knew he had started pacing.  Sand billowing up at his ankles with each heavy footed step.

His chest felt too tight on his body and his breath too labored and strained.  He recognized the panic attack, knew what it was.  Knew it was caused because of his fear and uncertainty about his father.  Yet, despite all that he was powerless to stop it.  He was already lost in its beat of insanity and everything was an automatic reaction.  The raging tears down his face, his too fast breath that made it hard to think straight, and the sudden guilt crushing his chest at having pushed his friend.  

Instinct had him fighting the hands pulling at his arms and trying to kick at the feet nearest to him.  His panic made him weak and the complete lack of oxygen made his coordination suffer.  It wasn’t until his face was squished against Makki’s chest, arms wrapped firmly around his shoulders; that he felt his body lose its fight.  He let it happen, embarrassed by his own behavior, and slumped against Makki’s body.  Itchy sand on his sides told him they had fallen at some point in the fight and irritating breath against his ear told him he was being shushed.  Which was not only annoying but entirely unnecessary.  He wasn't even making noise.

Until he realized he was.  A constant stream of nearly unintelligible _sorry, sorry, sorry_ , was passing through his lips until it was being dragged through his teeth with each heavy ragged breath that plagued his lungs.  Now aware of it, he stopped talking and just tried to catch his breath.  Letting Makki’s quiet shushing be a background noise that he could focus on.  He was suddenly grateful to have his face hidden in the folds of Makki’s sweater so his embarrassment was his own poorly kept secret.  

As if on its own accord, his hand trembled onto Makki’s thigh and clutched at his pants while he took in large gasping breaths.  Proper breaths eased the dizzy sensation in his head and the roaring blood in his ears slowed enough that he could hear Makki properly soothing him.  Yet, distress still pressed at him, urged him to go to his father and find him immediately.  He knew what would happen if he didn’t.  

“Hey, hey,” Makki called softly, “It’s okay.  Focus on me.”

He wanted to tell him he couldn’t, tell him he had to focus on his dad. If he didn’t he wasn’t sure how he was going to do _anything_.  There was so much he needed in just the span of a few short seconds.  A ship, a crew, a direction, lack of fear.  Things he just _didn’t_ have. Things that mattered so much they made his chest tight and his head overwhelmed.

“Shh, focus here,” Makki insisted as he pressed a hand against the back of Iwaizumi’s head.  

From there it was habit. Inhale, exhale, take in the smell of Makki’s gross cologne. Count the syllables in Makki’s speech when he said _I’ve got you_.  Focus on the heat radiating from Makki’s second hand splayed on the center of his back.  Inhale. Exhale. Focus.

“Fuck,” he hissed out, the word fanning out over Makki’s chest and hopefully getting trapped there so no one else could hear the way his voice cracked.

“Are you with me?” Makki asked―he always asked―and Iwaizumi always squeezed his thigh where his hand was placed, “Okay, good.  Let Mattsun monitor you?”

He tilted his head forward in reluctant agreement.  He was still mad.  He hated that he relied on them like this when they couldn’t let him have _one_ goddamn thing.  God, he felt exhausted. He offered out his free arm, letting it flop over on the sand hardly flinching when Mattsun pressed the pads of his first two fingers against his pulse point. He knew his heartbeat was thready and fast, knew that they wanted him to keep breathing and take a second to fully come out whatever had just happened, but he couldn’t help the raw wave of emotion that overcame him; making his voice thin and breakable:

 “My dad.”

“I know,” Makki said softly, hand running through the hair at the base of his neck, “we’ll talk in just a second, okay.”

“My _dad_ ,” Iwaizumi reiterated because how could he actually _know_.  How could he know about the rift in Iwaizumi’s family if he wasn’t Iwaizumi?  How could he know just how important it was that Iwaizumi go find his dad as soon as possible if Iwaizumi didn’t _tell_ him? He couldn’t _possibly_ understand if he was trying to keep Iwaizumi from going.  The tears in his eyes made him want to bury his face deeper into Makki’s chest.  How mortifying.

“Focus on me, just a bit longer,” Makki prompted, followed by a gentle squeeze on his hand which he assumed was Mattsun.

“Oikawa! Get back here!” Kuroo’s hissing tone filtered like static over his ears.  He turned his head towards the sound to see Oikawa wiggling his way up the sand to them, eyes wide and shimmering.  His muscles looked like they were straining to keep moving his massive weight across the dampening sand.  His stupid soggy hair fell in his face, slapped on and glued to his skin from a mixture of the sea water and the still drizzling clouds.  

“Idiot,” Iwaizumi hissed before turning his face back into Makki’s shirt.  Maybe if he pretended that they weren’t there, he could save himself the embarrassment at having a public panic attack.  

“ _Oikawa_ you’re going to get us both _beached_!” Kuroo’s voice snapped, the sound of him dragging his body along after Oikawa’s sounding through filtered cotton in Iwaizumi’s ears.

“Both of you shut up,” Matsukawa snapped, “Give him a minute.”

Things fell blessedly silent for only a moment before Oikawa ruined everything, again, “What’s wrong?”

“Shh,” Makki hissed above him, fingers coming down to rest in Iwaizumi’s hair.  

Another moment passed and Kuroo spoke up, “His breathing is stable and heart rate returning to normal...yet nothing has changed...is this just a human dysfunction?”

“It’s a fucking panic attack,” Matsukawa hissed, “or does your kind not suffer those?”

“...Rarely,” Kuroo admitted, “When you have training, Heart helps to keep one balanced.  Both in mind and body.”

“It doesn’t mean this sort of thing doesn’t happen,” Oikawa offered, “Just that it’s harder to accomplish.”

“He’s stressed, okay,” Makki snapped before tensing for a moment and checking his tone, knowing it only made things harder for Iwaizumi, “He’s got a lot on his plate right now, just give him some time and _shush_.”

Funny that time wasn’t the only thing against him in this moment.  There would never be enough time.  He needed time to find a crew to support him, time to find a good ship, time to spend figuring out how to cast away from the island undetected by anyone.  Time to find his father and time to figure out how to save him.  Not only did he need time to hurry up and bring him to the future events he was looking for, he needed _people_ willing to support him.  The stress though, that he could do without.

It was almost like having the thought made the action happen.  He could almost feel himself relax fully in Makki’s embrace.  A warmth set in his bones that couldn’t possibly come from his friend.  Clarity returned to his thoughts and instead of the usual bone deep fatigue that accompanied him post attack, he felt okay.  Not perfect or horrible but just a sort of lukewarm _okay_.  He could work with that.  His hand, which had been jerked into a frozen death grip on Makki’s pants released and it was like he could _feel_ his brain slow down and reprocess everything.

Okay fine, so Oikawa didn’t want to help him.  He hadn’t been counting on that two or even three months ago.  Nothing had really changed.  He still had his friends, he still had people he could approach to get him off the island.  There were always the daredevils and risk-takers that could take him.  It might take longer to get where he wanted to go but it wasn’t like he had a solid place in mind anyway.  He could check the archives at least, see what old legends said about Mermaids and their origins or where they lived.  Something could come of that.  He could lift some scuba gear from the school.  He still had a plan.  He could make it work.

“Iwa-chan?” Oikawa’s hand was running up his back, over his shoulder, and to the very tip of his nose.  That must have been the source of his sudden calm.  He grinned to himself in amusement, that certainly made more sense than Iwaizumi’s thought of wanting to be stress free.  How amusing that he could mistake Oikawa’s heart for his own insane thoughts.   

“He might have fallen asleep,” Makki commented after a moment of silence, “It happens sometimes.”

“He’s not asleep,” Oikawa huffed sounding rather annoyed, “Iwa-chan has these cute little snores when he sleeps.”

“I do _not_ snore,” Iwaizumi complained, voice gravely as if he _had_ been sleeping.

“Iwa-chan,” Oikawa sighed, “you’ve scared us all you know.”

He snorted as if he cared about that right now.  He was still mad enough to think they deserved it a little bit.  Not mad enough to let Oikawa’s kind deed go unappreciated though, “...Thanks…” He said on a quiet sigh, “It’s quiet.”

There was another small moment of silence before Kuroo spoke up, “What….what are you talking about?”

Iwaizumi turned his face out towards them, struggling to coordinate his lax muscles enough to get into a sitting position, “Just that?  Thanks to Oikawa for doing his….uh... _thing_ for me.”

“You mean...Heart?” Oikawa asked tentatively.

“Yeah,” Iwaizumi agreed while taking the hand Makki offered him and leaning into Mattsun’s supportive hands as they aided him in his attempt at sitting.

Oikawa shared a hesitant look with Kuroo, “I...didn’t do anything.”  

Confused, Iwaizumi stared at Oikawa’s face trying to figure out what the joke was.  Except both Mermaids looked _lost_.  Kuroo seemed intrigued like he were trying to piece Iwaizumi out limb for limb, his eyes piercing enough that it almost seemed like he could see down into Iwaizumi’s core being. It was becoming painstakingly clear that there wasn’t a joke.  He would have commented on it but Oikawa’s body was trembling and his skin clammy and cold to look at.  A small cough that Oikawa had tried to smother caught Kuroo’s attention and the look broke.

“Okay, back in the water,” Kuroo demanded with a sharp tug on Oikawa’s fin, “you still aren’t back to 100% yet.”  

“I’m beached,” Oikawa complained around his short coughs, “It’s too hard.”

“Too damn bad,” Kuroo snapped, “I tried to warn you but you _had_ to come ashore.”

“Iwa-chan needed me,” Oikawa whined.

“Apparently I didn’t,” Iwaizumi said quietly, mind whirling around the fact that Oikawa said he _hadn’t_ done anything.  Yet, this was the best he had felt after an attack.  There wasn’t even anything to compare it to.  He felt _fine_ , almost like it hadn’t happened.  Part of him kept wondering if anything _did_ happen but Makki and Mattsuns concerned overbearing glances convinced him that something _had_.

“What are you talking about?” Makki asked, “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“We should go back,” Mattsun added.

“No…,” Iwaizumi shook his head, heart picking up in his chest as he clenched his hands in front of him, “No, I’m okay.”

Oddly enough, he was.  It was too strange that he felt like the attack had never happened and in a way it was stressing him out all over again.  He knew it had to be something related to Mermaid mojo but he would never find out what it was by going home.  Oikawa couldn’t follow him there and unfortunately those two were his only way of figuring out what the hell was going on with him.

“Are you sure?” Makki asked incredulously.  

“Yeah,” Iwaizumi nodded firmly, “C’mon, help me get this idiot back in the water.”

“....Right…” Makki agreed at the same time that Oikawa piped up to say he wasn’t an idiot.  

Together the three of the helped to pull Oikawa and Kuroo back in the water.  Their pant legs got soaked but after they got them back in the drizzling had stopped.  Iwaizumi found a good rock to sit on and planted himself down on it, much to Makki and Mattsuns unease.

“So if it wasn’t Oikawa, then what the hell just happened?” Iwaizumi asked firmly to the two bobbing Mermaids.  Oikawa was smacking a sticky goo from his mouth, trying to get it down into the water to float away.  It looked similar to the substance he had coughed out when the bathwater had gotten too dirty.  He switched his gaze to Kuroo.

“Not sure,” Kuroo said carefully, “I have a few ideas but….honestly there could be any number of answers.”

“What seems most likely?” Iwaizumi asked.

“It stopped and you’re feeling better,” Kuroo shrugged, “An instance like normal but different enough to make you think otherwise.”

“And least likely?” Iwaizumi prompted, “This feels _too_ different to be the same old thing.  I feel like it never happened.  Like a reset button was hit and my stress levels dropped back down to almost nothing.”

“Least likely?” Kuroo laughed as he floated on his back, tail peeking up over the water, “You, a human, somehow managed to manipulate Heart for a second time.”

He was right that was ridiculous.  Iwaizumi sighed, knowing that a range that wide could literally be anything.  Somehow it was just easier to write it off as his body overcoming his panic attack in a new way.  Maybe he was just acclimating to the new fully present Heart from Oikawa that was stuck in his head.  It probably had some sort of influence on him and it was helping to let him cope.  He brought the idea up to Kuroo.

“Sounds plausible,” the Mermaid shrugged, “we would have to further test it.  See if we can isolate variables and replicate the event for experimentation.”  

“That can come later,” Iwaizumi sighed knowing that later would never come if he ended ditching everyone on the island, “we still need to talk.”

“Hold that thought,” Oikawa chirped up, complexion looking better than it had five minutes prior.  He dipped under the water and Kuroo sighed, eyes rolling but he tilted his head back and stretched his arms out in the water.  Iwaizumi was certain that despite his mannerisms, he was fully keyed into Oikawa’s movements.

“He’s just trying to delay the inevitable,” Iwaizumi huffed to his friends who were taking cautious seats on either side of him, eyeing him like he was going to keel over at any given moment.  He didn’t blame them.  He was usually far more exhausted after an attack.  Mattsun was probably gearing up to carry him part of the way back home.  

“He’s good at that,” Kuroo said from the water, his arms moving once through the water to keep him stationary.  

“Yeah, he is,” Iwaizumi agreed as Oikawa’s brown mop of hair popped up from the water, pout in place.

“I heard that,” Oikawa huffed, “and I’ll have you know that I just thought Iwa-chan would want his phone back!”  He held the device up and out of the water.

“I...forgot I threw that,” Iwaizumi admitted, embarrassed.  He hoped it hadn’t been his mother trying to call him, “it won’t be much good to me now.  It’s too wet.”

“Hmm…” Oikawa eyed the object as he approached the rocks, finding one that allowed him to be submerged enough that his lower gills were in water, “what if it wasn’t wet anymore?”

“I mean...generally that’s how you would save it,” Iwaizumi answered, “Stick it in rice and let the rice soak up as much water as it can for a day or two.  It’s not a guaranteed fix though, might turn on again but it might not.”

Oikawa hummed in thought again and let his fingers hover over the surface of the device.  His brow knit in concentration and Iwaizumi swore he felt a small surge of energy but when he looked at Mattsun and Makki they didn’t seem to be aware of anything at all.  He would have passed it off as his imagination but Kuroo suddenly sat up and clicked his tongue at Oikawa.

“Oi!  Don’t you think you should wait until you’re more recovered to start manipulating anything?”

“Oh hush,” Oikawa chided, “I’m not manipulating anything.  I’m still persuading.”

“That’s almost worse,” Kuroo huffed, “water is such a stubborn thing.”

“What do you mean?” Iwaizumi asked, “Is this going back to the dynamic of Heart?”  

“Dynamic of Heart?” Makki asked.

“Yeah,” Iwaizumi nodded, “Oikawa mentioned it once, that the difference between a Mermaid and Siren was the innate meaning of Heart.  That Mermaids Heart lied in the power of influences whereas Sirens abilities lie in the power of manipulation.  But just because they are aligned that way doesn’t mean that they can’t learn another ability...or something.”

“That’s pretty much it,” Oikawa nodded approvingly, “What I’m doing now is persuasion over elements.  Basically trying to convince water to do as I will it.”

“But water is literally _the_ most stubborn of all the elements,” Kuroo added, “So of course Tooru decided he wanted that to be his main element.”

“Well we _are_ always surrounded by it,” Oikawa defended his eyebrows pressing tighter together and his lips pressing together tightly, “Besides I would wager wind to be more elusive and stubborn.”

“I’ll give you elusive,” Kuroo admitted, “But not stubborn.”

“This conversation is literally crazy,” Makki whined into Mattsun’s shoulder, “we’re crazy.  This is all crazy.”

Then the water finally moved.  Droplets rolling together on Iwaizumi’s ruined phone and combining together to ooze off the edge and dribble back into the ocean.  Mattsun pinched Makki’s chin between his thumb and pointer finger, turning his face to the scene so he didn’t miss the way the water seemed to float for just a moment before plummeting back down into the rolling waves of the ocean.

“Now it’s crazy,” Mattsun commented.

“What the hell,” Makki and Iwaizumi muttered at the same time.  There were just some things one couldn’t get used to.

“There,” Oikawa chirped, “Now try!”  

Gingerly, Iwaizumi took the phone and held the power button down.  Unbelievably it only took a few seconds for it to light up.  There was a section of the screen that was inked out black but other than that he could touch the screen and type in his passcode to open the lock screen.  It was showing his missed phone call and a few text messages from his mother asking how things were going.  He would respond to them later.

“Is it really working?” Makki asked wide eyed.

“Mostly, yeah,” Iwaizumi responded awestruck.  

“Who called?” Mattsun asked.

“Uh, my therapist,” Iwaizumi answered after pulling down the menu screen so it would show the information log, “Is it already the first of the month?”

“It is,” Mattsun confirmed.

“Oops, I missed my appointment.”

“Will they come after you?” Makki asked sounding nervous, “Do you need to call her back?”

“Should probably call her back later but they won’t come after me,” Iwaizumi answered while shoving the phone back in his pocket, “I’m off my probation period so they trust me enough not to jump off a cliff with one missed session.”  

“Charming,” Kuroo snickered from the water.

“Isn’t it,” Iwaizumi grinned back.  He looked back to Oikawa and let the grin fall from his face, “no more distractions.  We’re talking about this.”

“No we aren’t,” Oikawa said firmly, “I said no and that’s final.”

“Who do you think you are?” Iwaizumi scoffed, “you aren’t someone so high and mighty to be ordering me around.”

Kuroo scoffed in the water, trying to cover up his laughter with weak sounding coughs.  He gave the mercy sign, both palms out, when both Oikawa and Iwaizumi gave him a sharp glare.  He quieted down but still looked amused.

“You don’t know who I am,” Oikawa snapped back, “You’ll do as I say and _stay here_.  The last thing you need is to be gallivanting off to your death for _nothing_.”

“I don’t need to know who you are to know that I don’t have to do what you say.  You aren’t my guardian, you aren’t my decision maker, and you’re sure as hell not my _mother_.  If you don’t want to help me then fine, I don’t need it.  I was always going to do this even long before you showed up.  Thanks for the clue about my dad, it came in handy.”

He stood up to leave and Oikawa reached up to catch his ankle.  Ever supportive, Makki and Mattsun grabbed his shoulders to stabilize him before he could fall on the rocks. Oikawa had his chin tilted up like he was trying to exude power over them.  His eyes set in a determined slant and his jaw firm.

“I won’t let you leave this island, Iwa-chan,” he said steadily, “I’ll make it storm for as long as it takes.  You’ll stay here and we’ll figure out what is going on.  Then Tetsu-chan and I will go.”

“Cute how you have it all planned out,” Iwaizumi said coldly, “But my plan has been 7 years in the making.  I’m not letting you stop me.  No offense but you won’t hold out long enough for me to stay here until I die.  Kuroo was right, you needed me to cooperate with you on this whole thing.  Good luck trying to figure anything out when you’re stuck making stupid storms for the rest of my life.  I’m sure you have a range, it’ll only take me a few days to figure it out.   I’ll be setting sail soon enough.”

He kicked his ankle out of Oikawa’s grasp and hopped off the rocks, shoving his hands in his jean pockets and striding off for home.  Makki and Mattsun hesitantly followed after him and Oikawa angrily swam after them for as long as he could, yelling after Iwaizumi with Kuroo sighing behind him.  Iwaizumi ignored every taunt and call.  He ignored the sudden downpour of rain and howling winds.  He simply put his hood up and linked arms with Makki and Mattsun so they could stay together in the rain caused whiteouts and pushing wind.  

The storm continued throughout their dinner that his mother had lovingly prepared.  She seemed anxious at his silence but there wasn’t anything he felt he could say without breaking down right then and there.  It would have been so much _easier_ if Kuroo and Oikawa would have just agreed to take him to his father.  Instead, he got a mythical creature having a goddamn temper tantrum and involving a whole island over it.  

Makki and Mattsun ended up having to phone home to tell their parents they would be staying another night as it wasn’t safe to travel.  Iwaizumi’s therapist agreed to change the date hoping for better weather but was glad he had called to let her know he was okay.  His friends tried to get him to talk to them but he just _couldn’t_.  He waved them off with thin promises of _later_.

Even when they lied down for bed the storm was going strong, raging against his windows.  It almost seemed to Iwaizumi that Oikawa’s petulance was thick in the air, choking him until he woke up every few hours in a cold sweat, Makki and Mattsun oblivious in the living room never reacted.  It was almost as if he could feel Oikawa’s presence stuck by his side, yelling and throwing the _biggest_ hissy fit.  

“This Heart bullshit _sucks_ ,” Iwaizumi huffed to himself as he rolled over and pulled the blankets tight over his head hoping it would help.  It acted as a _sort of effective_ barrier, enough that he was able to find sleep.  It was then that he could _hear_ Oikawa screaming at him from what seemed like all corners of his mind.  Ranging from calling him an idiot to informing him that he would keep the storm powered up until Iwaizumi came to his senses.  

“Shut up,” He whined into the empty space of his room, pillow crushed over his ears as if that could stop the obsessive chatter. He tried to block out Oikawa’s voice the same way he had for Kuroo but it seemed impossible now.  He couldn’t figure out how he had done it.  No sort of mental block was effective, if anything Oikawa’s yelling just got louder.

“JESUS _FINE_!”  Iwaizumi yelled before instinctively quieting down lest he wake the household, “ _What_?!” He hissed feeling rather stupid for talking to thin air.  Yet the reply came:

_“I won’t stop yelling at you until you come back.  Hows no sleep sound?  I can run for days. Can you?”_

Piece of shit knew he couldn’t. He was half tempted to call Oikawa on a bluff but had a feeling that the other could actually do it.  If not he could probably convince Kuroo easily enough to help.  Iwaizumi groaned into his pillow and sighed before whispering into the air:

“You really want me to run around in your shitty storm?  Fat chance.”

_“...I’ll stop it if you promise to come.”_

“You’d trust that?” Iwaizumi scoffed, he had no will to go back to Oikawa’s secret hiding place, “How do you know I wouldn’t bring cullers?”

_“You’re a good person when you try.”_

“When I try…” Iwaizumi huffed, “Guess I’m not trying.  Shut up and let me sleep.  This is creepy...I don’t like this.”

_“Then I guess I’ll keep invading your mental space.”_

“What do you even get out of this?!” Iwaizumi hissed into the air slapping his blankets over so he could sit up, “What do you care if I go on a suicide mission or _whatever_ you want to call it?!  You said I don’t know you, well _you_ don’t know _me_!  You’ve mooched off of us for a mere _month_!  You don’t know _anything_ about me or my _family_!  So why the hell does it matter to you if I want to go set sail?!  Don’t want your science project to die? You’re using me to slack off from a _war_!  Have you ever done anything that’s not selfishly charged just _once_ in your life?”

There was a static silence that left Iwaizumi thinking he had actually been dreaming and such invasive communication really wasn’t possible.  He became embarrassed at his own heavy breathing emotional outburst.  It was too silent and for just a moment and he felt the anxiety inducing presence from earlier that day when they had visited Eustass.  He instinctively wanted to shut it out but knew that it was Kuroo and probably nothing _too_ harmful.  Besides, that intimidating aura was sticking _around_ Iwaizumi’s own bubble, like it was aware it wasn’t welcome and wouldn’t intrude.  Almost as if it were interacting with Oikawa instead.

“Good,” He huffed to himself.  Let Oikawa be distracted, maybe then he’d get some fucking sleep. He snuggled back down into his blankets and had just relaxed when Oikawa’s voice filtered back through his head.

_“Are you trying to say you can’t feel anything for someone after spending a whole month with them?”_

The response was quiet with the sudden drop in activity from the storm.  The question made his stomach churn with unease and guilt.  Of course he felt something.  It had only been a short time since Oikawa had left the house and until he had seen him at the beach again he hadn’t realized how much he had missed his smile.  How even his stupid voice, annoying as it was currently, made his heart race in anticipation.  He even missed having someone _clinging_ to his back every night and even though Oikawa had cold toes that he shoved in between Iwaizumi’s calves and freezing fingers that somehow wound their way under his sleeping shirt, he didn’t mind.  Because for a month, he hadn’t felt like it was him vs. the world.  Iwaizumi vs. mom.  Iwaizumi vs. friends.  

Iwaizumi verses Iwaizumi.

For a mere 30 days it wasn’t Iwaizumi Hajime, doomed young adult destined to spend his days with the outcasts.  Nor was it Iwaizumi Hajime, Siren survivor just trying to get a grip and act like everyone else.  He just _was_ Iwaizumi Hajime.  Iwaizumi Hajime who was _relatively_ normal. Who people congratulated for getting himself a “boyfriend.”  Who strangers that seemed to know him from third party friends actually came up and told him he and his “boyfriend” looked good together.  Who could actually _feel_ things again.  It was “Iwaizumi Hajime” boy who could _swim_ and _find himself_ after being unable to remember _who_ he _was_ for so long.

He ignored the tears in his eyes and smashed his face into his pillow, “Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m saying.”

 _“Iwa-chan is such a bad liar.  I’m in your head….remember._ ”

“Fucking...cheater,” Iwaizumi huffed out embarrassed.

_“I missed you too, Iwa-chan.”_

Iwaizumi lifted his face and bent an arm so he could rest his chin on his forearm, eyes trained on the small night light Oikawa liked to have in his room.  He said it reminded him of the stars over the sea at night.  Small pinpricks of light spread over his walls and ceiling.  He had turned it on from habit and was trying to use it to ignore the warmth spreading throughout his chest. His cheeks were hot with the admission and his heart wouldn’t stop fluttering in his chest.

“If you want me out there so badly, why don’t you just force it with your weird Mermaid telepathy?”  Iwaizumi derailed.

_“Besides all that wrong terminology....I want Iwa-chan willing or not at all.”_

Iwaizumi snorted into his arm, “Yeah but that ‘not at all’ comes with a little asterisk doesn't it.”

_“I don’t understand.”_

“I stay here and you stay in my head.”

Oikawa’s silence was telling.

Iwaizumi sighed heavily, “Give me ten minutes.”

He could feel Oikawa’s smug satisfaction through this weird mental connection they were sharing, _“I’ll be waiting.”_

“Give the damn storm a rest,” Iwaizumi huffed as he pulled on sweatpants and a warm sweater.

Like a switch the storm halted, winds falling calm and rain ceasing it’s fall.  He hoped any meteorologists weren’t out to see the oddness in that end to a disastrous storm.  It was much too odd to be explainable.  Iwaizumi rolled his eyes but pulled his running shoes from their cubby before he crept along the hallway, avoiding the spots he knew made noises.  He stepped around Makki and Mattsun’s sleeping bodies before making a quiet exit from the house.  He slipped the shoes on and took off down the stairs, running to the spot that he knew Oikawa waited on.

He saw the wet mop of hair before anything; only because Oikawa’s head was mostly submerged in water with just his eyes up showing above the ocean.  It was oddly ridiculous, like a frog on a log, or perhaps a rather bulbous lump.  He couldn’t help his snickering, especially not when it made Oikawa’s eyes narrow in suspicion.  

“I can’t help but notice you didn’t bring anyone to kill me,” Oikawa said his voice sounding oddly distorted as water rushed from his mouth.

“Can’t help but notice you’re alone,” Iwaizumi quipped back, “Bodyguard run off to get you a coffee?”

“Silly Iwa-chan,” Oikawa said while crossing his arms over one of the rocks, moonlight creating a charming glow from the water beaded on his chest shoulders, “There’s no Starbucks in the ocean.  Tetsu-chan is...around.”

Iwaizumi caught the meaning.  He was far enough away to give them some privacy but not so far off that if Oikawa needed, he couldn’t lob Iwaizumi’s head off in a short minute.  He cocked his hip to the side, refusing to step close enough for Oikawa to be able to reach him, the last thing he wanted was a repeat of the first time they had met on the beach and he ended up pinned under the overbearing weight of Oikawa’s full tail.

“What am I doing here, Oikawa?’ Iwaizumi finally asked, “I made myself pretty clear earlier.”

“You did,” Oikawa acknowledged, “it has...come to my attention that we both pointed out the same things…”

“You mean Kuroo informed you of this?” Iwaizumi teased.

“Like Iwa-chan noticed it either,” Oikawa huffed, cheeks puffed out in a pout.

“Maybe I did,” Iwaizumi shrugged.

“If you did, we would have had a very different conversation a few minutes ago,”  Oikawa cut in slyly.

“Fine, I’ll bite,” Iwaizumi sighed, “what has the great Kuroo realized?”

“We both don’t know enough about each other…” Oikawa admitted slowly, “we both said it…. _you don’t know me_.”  

“Ah…”

“....So….” Oikawa ducked his gaze back down, eyes trained on the glowing bits of reflected moonlight on his rock; finger swirling in the water droplets there.

“So...you want me to….share about me?”  Iwaizumi finished, “and….”

“...and I’ll share some about me….”  Oikawa agreed to Iwaizumi’s silent question with a small nod and a hesitant glance up.  

Iwaizumi pressed his lips together, trying to judge if this was for real or not.  Oikawa stayed silent, letting him work it out.  He hated how much he appreciated that.  Oikawa always did seem to know how to get him to tick...even without being in his head and being overall creepy.  He sighed figuring he had nothing to lose and took a seat in the sand.  

“Fine, I’ll bite.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, who's going first?”

“....Tell me about you...and your dad…” Oikawa requested, resting his head on his crossed arms, eyes big and reflective with shards of moonlight dancing in his irises.

“Okay...I was 7 when he got his scar,” Iwaizumi started slowly touching the spot on his face that corresponded to the scars placement, “he almost had that damn barracuda up before it launched at us.  He was focused on trying to get me out the way….he was always focused on that. It ended up catching him across the face because of it….me.”

“Iwa-chan was so young,” Oikawa commented, “almost a baby.”

“I wasn’t _almost_ a baby,” Iwaizumi snorted unable to help his amusement, “I was almost a pre-teen.”

“Almost,” Oikawa conceded with an equally amused grin.

“ _Anyway_ ,” Iwaizumi huffed, “that trip ended with me and mom waiting in the ER until dad was transferred to the OR for some minor surgery.  Mostly he needed sutures but they said something had to be done about the way it tore in his cheek?  I’m not sure on the details it was a long time ago.  He hardly took a break after that, neither of us did.  My dad’s ship is decent sized so we had a 5 man crew to feed on top of our own family.  Fishing season is only so long and it can be tough being away from home for so long.  Thinking back on it, my mom was left alone for most of my memories.  Whenever we came home, dad would bring her these gifts; pearls he had harvested or jewelry from some foreign place we visited.  She sold them all,” He laughed.

“Sold them?!” Oikawa gaped.

“Yep, sold them to pay for our boating costs and the house,” Iwaizumi laughed, “but dad was never upset.  Just promised to give her something that she could keep next time….That night….the night that I was...that he….”  He cleared his throat unsure of how to go on.  He hadn’t even told his therapist the full story.  Only bits and pieces.  He hadn’t even told Makki or Mattsun….or his mother.  At the time it had been too dangerous to relive it.  To risk hearing the Siren’s voice again.  It had been quiet for so long he wasn’t sure he wanted to risk it.

“Iwa-chan,” Oikawa called.  Iwaizumi jerked his head up, finally aware that he was shaking and his vision narrowed in on Oikawa’s outstretched hand, “My hand is cold, warm it up?”

“You’re so demanding,” Iwaizumi said breathlessly, _thankfully_ , “honestly, what would you do on your own?”

“Hmmm,” Oikawa made a show of thinking hard while Iwaizumi crawled closer shifting until he was on wet sand and Oikawa could shimmy up next to him, tail still in the water but hand in Iwaizumi’s and torso stretched out across the sand, “nothing good I’m sure.”

“Nothing good is right,” Iwaizumi huffed before eyeing Oikawa skeptically, “are you sure you should let your gills be out of the water?”

“I’ll be okay for a bit,” Oikawa said, twisting his hips so his head could rest in Iwaizumi’s lap.

“Let me know when you need to go back,” Iwaizumi prompted, his free hand automatically plopping down in Oikawa’s hair, like it had its own mind.

“I will.”

Iwaizumi took a moment to gather himself, to take in the feeling of Oikawa’s palm warm against his own.  For a brief second, he wondered when that was all it took to calm his anxiety; only to make his heart flutter with something else.  He wondered if there would ever be anything or anyone like it again.

“The night I was attacked…” Iwaizumi started his voice low and almost impossible to hear over the crashing waves, “There was a freak storm, it hit us out of nowhere so we were totally unprepared for it.  We had the engines off and were running on wind to save our resources.  The boat itself nearly capsized but we got the sails up in time.  It was shortly after that when the Siren’s were spotted.  Per protocol, watch sounded our alarm and everyone ran for protective gear.  I was 17….arrogant….I thought I could take a Siren. Our town had yearly cullings, classes are taught once you start graduating high school.  Everyone has to know how to kill a fish—how to kill a half fish—in order to graduate.  It was put in place by our government as a form of protection, hoping that death rates would decrease after the class was implemented.”

“Did it?” Oikawa asked softly.

“Yeah, but I think it made a lot of people more violent, “Iwaizumi sighed, “It’s not just a half fish we’re targeting.  You have to look at the human bit first.  They try to make it seem like it’s all about the fish part but...that’s not where weaknesses are.”

“It’s not,” Oikawa agreed.  Iwaizumi let a finger trail over the gills on Oikawa’s neck, flinching when they flexed against his finger but pressing back down after a moment to trail down to the ones at his ribs, “That tickles,” Oikawa huffed, though he sounded nervous through his breathy laughs.

“Sorry,” Iwaizumi pulled his hand back, “Anyway, I was 17 full of this overwhelming bravado and I thought I could do it.  I could just kill a Siren.  On a ship.  In the middle of a storm. On the ocean.”

“Not one of Iwa-chan’s more brilliant moves,” Oikawa commented quietly, his fingers making small circles on Iwaizumi’s thigh.

“No….it wasn’t,” Iwaizumi agreed, “I didn’t even bother with headgear.  I don’t think I even thought about it.  I just looked around until I could see one, bent over the side of the ship trying to board.  I didn’t think, I just ran at it, yelling.  My dad yelled after me to stop, to get back to his side but I only managed to glance at him before that song. That fucking _song_.  It just it _sits there_ and it nags at me and I―most days I don’t even know what to do but feel like I’m crazy….Until you, it _never_ went away.”

“It’s not all me,” Oikawa countered, pressing a thumb against Iwaizumi’s forehead, “it’s you, too.”

Unsure of how to respond to that, Iwaizumi continued the story, “I only caught a glimpse of dad before I couldn’t do anything but listen to that song….and he...he only had one ear covered.  Like he couldn’t catch enough balance to get the other headphone on; or so I thought.  It wasn’t until he had ripped them off and thrown them to me that I realized we didn’t have enough pairs on board.  If I had just...If I had just _bent down_ I could have grabbed them...but…”

“It was too late,” Oikawa said plainly, his thumb trailing down Iwaizumi’s cheek and pressing over his trembling lips.  His thumb swiped to the corner of his mouth and back before Oikawa let it fall back onto his chest, his other hand still pressed tight against Iwaizumis’.

“Way too late.  Dad tried to get to me but he had a bad leg from a fall when I was ten.  It never healed properly, fast forward a few years and he’s got this bad limp.  The boats already rocking and he can’t get to me faster than I’m getting away.  I just...I remember seeing those _eyes_.  They just...cut….like jewels but they’re _menacing_ and I can’t ever forget them.  Dark green and just... _glowing_.”  He shuddered at the memory, feeling nearly lost in it until Oikawa squeezed his hand.

“Do you want to stop?”

“No...I’m okay,” Iwaizumi said with a big breath, “I always thought my dad would be there to pull me back from every screw up I made with a lecture and mucking out the fish bins.  I never thought the day would come where we both failed but I knew it as soon as that Siren grabbed my arms and slid back over the railing.  I knew that was the end.  And for a minute I was okay with it.  I thought ‘ _ah no more struggling to live, just a little bit more.’_  Then I hit the water and it was like this huge wake up call.”

“Really?”  Oikawa seemed intrigued, his interest piquing up with his eyebrows.

“Is that weird?”  Iwaizumi asked relieved for a small break.

“A little bit,” Oikawa said, his brow furrowing, “normally at that point you would just let yourself float down.  That’s what they call the point of no return.  You’re too far gone to realize what’s about to happen and even when the Siren takes their first bite victims don’t struggle, they just get this weird blissed out look on their faces and let it happen.”

“....I...I fought the hardest I have ever fought in my _life_ ,” Iwaizumi admitted, “I hurt for days afterwards.  I always thought the Siren looked surprised but I guess going off of what you said it makes sense.  For a second I thought I was going to win, I got a good grip on his gills but he grabbed my wrist and he just... _dove._ ”

“Human body isn’t equipped to deal with pressure changes like that.”

“I thought for sure I was going to die,” Iwaizumi laughed hollowly, “and to be honest I don’t really remember too much after that.  Just...something weird in my head.  I thought I had passed out but there was just this brilliant light all around me so my next thought was that I had died and that wherever I went, it was gold.”

“Gold?”

“Yeah,” Iwaizumi sighed, “it was almost peaceful but I’m pretty sure that was the lack of oxygen.  Next thing I know I’m waking up in the ships barracks;, my dad next to me.  We’re both a hot mess, I keep trying to run out to the water and my dad’s running after me.  One of our crewmates brings us back to bed and eventually—when we got to be too much to handle—they just tied us down there.  They brought meals but my dad kept thinking I wasn’t getting enough.  He would _beg_ them to give me his rations. Of course, I just wanted to die at that point, so I refused.”

“Poor Iwa-chan,” Oikawa murmured, “They wouldn’t give you the one thing you wanted most.”

“Shut up,” Iwaizumi snorted, trying to blink back the wetness in his eyes, “I’m glad they kept me alive.  It wasn’t like I could do it myself with that song playing in my head all the time.  It was like step by step instructions on how to get in the water and never come back up.”

“And Iwa-chan’s dad?” Oikawa prompted.

“I got so mad at him, we had so many fights down there about that little bit of food.  We were both ended up half starved by the time we returned home.  It was hardly a week before I was hospitalized and then without even saying goodbye, my dad left me...left mom.  She said he had gone to get revenge on the Siren that did this to me.  He sailed East where it all happened and was gonna kill a Siren.  I spent the next year in long term care and everything after that has been one fight with myself to the next.”  

“Iwa-chan has had a hard life,” Oikawa commented softly, his thumb stroking over the back of Iwaizumi’s hand.  The simple comment had a hard lump forming in Iwaizumi’s throat accompanied by the stinging prick of tears in his eyes.

“Yeah,” he agreed hoarsely, “it’s sucked.”

“But...better?” Oikawa asked craning his neck around so he could look at Iwaizumi’s face.

“A little bit,” Iwaizumi admitted softly, his own thumb landing on Oikawa’s face and pressing against his lower lip, “thanks to a few pests.”

“Pest?!” Oikawa huffed, lip pushing out in a pout—Iwaizumi vindictively pushed it back in.

“Shush,” Iwaizumi chided, “you’re a pest just like Hanamaki and Matsukawa.”

“Prove it,” Oikawa grumbled.

“I don’t have to,” Iwaizumi laughed, “you already did by forcing me out here!”

“...Was it really so bad?” Oikawa pressed.

“I don’t know,” Iwaizumi teased, “how about you tell me, after you have story time?”

“Rude.”

“Yes, yes,” Iwaizumi indulged, rolling his eyes, “tell me about the war...why won’t you go?”

Oikawa sighed thoughtfully for a moment, fingers wiggling where Iwaizumi held them.  He let him process his thoughts and take his time, just as Oikawa had done for him.  This wasn’t always easy, especially when it seemed that the other was looking for ways to get out of it; but then he thought about how Oikawa hadn’t shared much of anything personal with him.  Nothing major at least.  Just as it was uncomfortable for Iwaizumi, Oikawa was probably felt the same. He offered a reassuring squeeze to Oikawa’s hand and with his free fingers, tucked some wet chunks of hair behind Oikawa’s ear, and waited.  

“I suppose,” Oikawa started with a slow blink, “in order to really explain why I am opposed to the war effort, there is information you need to hear.”

“Okay,” Iwaizumi agreed with a short nod, “I’m listening.”

“It goes back to the beginning—of Mermaids time I mean—when mother gave us life.”

“The _not_ temptress lady,” Iwaizumi teased with a smirk.  Oikawa narrowed his eyes in a serious glare before rolling them upon realizing that he was being teased.

“Yes, Atargatis,” he sighed, “she became the first Mermaid and from her hate and grief towards the Gods, she created the first negative Heart and the existence of Sirens.  From the beginning Mermaids and Siren’s haven’t liked each other, but we used to co-exist.  Mermaids turned a blind eye to Sirens’ seeking out humans to enthrall and eat, and Sirens only rolled their eyes at our customs towards turning humans.”

“What do you mean, customs for turning humans?” Iwaizumi asked, brows knitted tightly together.

“Well, a Siren will turn a human into a Siren to control them―,”

“―wait, wait, wait!” Iwaizumi jolted in his spot, “You mean a _human_ can _become_ a Siren?”

“Well yes,” Oikawa answered with a quirked brow and a slanted mouth, “that _is_ how it all started, right? Mother was human and turned, it only seems natural that we all have the ability to turn humans as well.”

“No...no that does _not_ seem natural!” Iwaizumi protested.

“Well,” Oikawa shrugged, “it is fact.”

“Okay,” Iwaizumi breathed, trying to calm down to take in the rest—who knew how much more elaborate this could get, “so Sirens and Mermaids...can turn humans into...Sirens?”

“ _And Mermaids_ ,” Oikawa stressed, “it is, unfortunately, easier for a human to become a Siren than it is a Mermaid, hence why Mermaids do not partake in the activity as frequently.”

“How...how does one even….just... _how_?”

“There are conditions,” Oikawa clarified, “For a Siren there must be a mark established.  Usually this is done through a bite as it’s easiest, but there have been instances of other marks.  Then, of course, Heart is essential, it can help decide the course of the turning.  The human must die as well to give room for the rebirth, usually by drowning. Again just a matter of convenience but some humans have had heart attacks.”

“Naturally,” Iwaizumi murmured feeling his stomach squirm uncomfortably at the others utterly neutral expression.

“For a Mermaid it’s a little bit different.  Of course Heart and the death of the human are still necessary components but there is no need for a Mermaid to mark a human.  Sirens can only make Siren’s, we think it’s something about the nature of their Heart, but Mermaids can make either.  Ultimately the determining factor is still up to the human,” He continued solemnly.

“You mean, it’s their choice what to become?”

“Mmm, in a way,” Oikawa turned so he was facing in towards Iwaizumi’s body and wiggling upwards until he was pressed against his abdomen.  Noticing his small shivers, Iwaizumi wrapped an arm around the others bare shoulders, hoping to keep some of the warmth in, “Heart is driven by emotions, thoughts, intentions, and most importantly the subconscious.  For a human to become a Mermaid they have to be certain that death is what they want.  No regretting at the last second, just simply at peace with their decision or at least confident in it.”

“It seems like there would be a lot of Mermaids,” Iwaizumi commented bleakley.

“Did you know,” Oikawa started, “that a study done from suicide survivors showed that each and every one of them regretted the attempt?”

“No….”

“It’s harder than it sounds.  Once you’re in it and there’s no going back fear can be a very persuasive power,” he said, “having a successfully turned Mermaid is difficult.”

“So when you say that Siren’s roll their eyes at Mermaid customs?” Iwaizumi prompted.

“Recruiters will usually stick around common places for suicides.  If they can convince someone to try we’ll take it but more often than not it ends up in the birth of a new Siren.”

“And in that case?”

“Iwa-chan wouldn’t like the answer to that,” Oikawa sighed giving him a look that begged for him to move on.

“...So then, how does this relate to the war?”  He obediently moved on, deciding that maybe he wasn’t ready to have the answer to that particular question just yet.

“We used to quietly co-exist, which wasn’t to say that things weren’t tense, they definitely were. Just, we didn’t war with each other, but when a Mermaid was targeted by a Siren and turned into his thrall before she was turned into dinner...that tipped the scales.  There was no forgiving that.  Cannibalism is still a word that goes without mercy for us.  Tensions rose and war broke out.”

“When you say thrall you mean like...like a puppet?”

“Basically,” Oikawa nodded, “As a Siren’s thrall you are bound to their whims, desires, and needs.  There is no ability to disagree or say no.  Most of the time a thrall can’t even raise voice to an argument and when a Siren decides they are done with them they make them dinner or toss them out to die.”

“That’s slavery,” Iwaizumi huffed disgusted.

“It is,” He acknowledged before continuing, “It is often said that a fight between mothers’ children can only be stopped by mother herself.”

“And….she’s not really around anymore is she?”

“That…” Oikawa sighed heavily, “Depends on your perspective.”

“You mean like...the afterlife?”

“Mother is inherited through us.  She passes on her traits throughout our lines.  We’re all connected to her but only some of us have pieces _of_ her.  Any line found with a piece of her inheritance is made into a royal line.  Some lines have consistently passed down mother’s traits to their offspring.  This is where our ranks come from.”

“So a family line that has several instances of this inheritance is like a high royal whereas someone with a newly discovered inheritance is a lower ranking royal?”

“Exactly,” Oikawa nodded, “and because it is believed that only Mother can end the war, it is, by extension, believed that only those who inherit parts of Mother are the ones who can end this war.  Particularly the high royals or ones who have had long histories with Mother’s inheritance.”

“Okay, I got it.”

“My sister and I are currently the only high royals with known inheritance to mother,” Oikawa admitted into the folds of Iwaizumi’s jacket.

“Oh shit,” he huffed under his breath, eyebrows rising up to meet his hairline, “So...basically you’re the only ones that can stop the war?”

Oikawa made a frustrated noise and scoffed, pressing his face into Iwaizumi’s middle like it was all he could do to not scream out right there.  Startled he let his hand hover over Oikawa’s back while the one he was holding was crushed in his grip.  He felt his shoulders tense reflexively and tried to relax them, only to fail.

“Um...sorry?” He apologized in confusion trying to retrace his steps backwards to figure out what exactly he did wrong.

“People seem to think so,” Oikawa said irritated, ignoring the apology, “my sister inherited her fertility, doesn’t really seem useful in war does it?”

“...I guess not,” Iwaizumi shrugged, “...and you?”

“I received Mother’s charm,” he sighed, “A beautiful face, a beautiful body.”

“You did,” Iwaizumi admitted before he could think.  He felt his own ears turn red at the same time he saw Oikawa’s color, “I just mean―I don’t―you’re just pretty!” He huffed, embarrassed.

Oikawa chuckled, dry, into the folds of his sweater before craning his neck to look up at him, “You’re not so bad yourself.”

Iwaizumi’s jaw snapped shut and he avoided eye contact.  He wasn’t entirely certain what to say to that.   _Thank you_ seemed to convoluted.  Too much like something Oikawa would said with his chin held high and his nose in the air and a too wide smirk on his face.  Denying it seemed like an insult to himself and silence seemed rude, so he settled on clearing his throat and offering a bob of his head, “So...you’re like...a high royal?”

“High Prince,” Oikawa corrected, his nose wrinkling with the admission, “much to my disdain.”

Iwaizumi huffed a breath of amusement through his nose, hand returning to the top of Oikawa’s head, he could tell that much.  He gave himself a moment to process everything he had been told before carrying on.

 “So if you agree that what the Siren’s did was war worthy and you already don’t like Sirens from the get go, why don’t you want anything to do with it?  I mean, I’m not saying that war is great and you should be excited to go, but if it’s for a cause you believe in, you could at least try to bump up morale?”

Oikawa’s sigh was burdened and long, he fell silent for many minutes, turning to look at the sky where clouds were beginning to clear and stars began to show.  Finally he sighed a second time; slow blinks turning into closed eyes, “If the only one who can stop a war is a goddess, what’s the point in fighting the war in the first place?  If the only ones who can stop a war are Mermaids who have inherited traits, will they ever really be _just_ Mermaids in the eyes of the people?  I’d rather be see as a flighty prince than a demi-god and if the only way for me to win this war is for me to shake my ass at _him_ , I’d rather the war never take place.  It’s preposterous to think that beauty can stop a war.”

When Oikawa opened his eyes to look back up at him, they were filled with such pain that Iwaizumi swore he could feel it in his own chest; or maybe he could? Their weird connection was hard to place at times.  He hummed in thought, letting his thumbs rub circles on Oikawa’s temple until the other relaxed against him.  

“I’ve seen battle,” Oikawa said suddenly, his voice quiet and somber, “it is nothing but a field of violence and death.  I’ve tried to bring peace but it always seems so futile.  I don’t want Iwa-chan to go near it, there’s too much sadness and pain.  Something we both need a break from.”

“Some people,” Iwaizumi started carefully staring off at the dark horizon, “are worth giving up that break for.”

“You mean your dad?”

“Among others,” Iwaizumi agreed with a nod, his eyes coming down to look at Oikawa.

“I don’t like it,” Oikawa huffed petulantly, “I said no.”  

Iwaizumi clicked his tongue in irritation, “You’re such a bratty prince!”  He pinched Oikawa’s nose between his fingers _hard_ and twisted it, “Stop ordering everyone around all the time!”

“Ow! Iwa-ch― _aaah_ ―” Oikawa cried hands coming up to grab at Iwaizumi’s wrist until he let go.  Instantly, his hands were covering his sore nose, eyes set in a firm glare at Iwaizumi’s face, “nose pinches are supposed to be _reassuring_ and _fun_!”

“Not this time,” Iwaizumi teased, eyebrows waggling and fingers poised in the air.  He let Oikawa pout at him for a few more seconds before he sighed and sunk his hands in the sand behind him, leaning until he was pressing his weight back on them, “I know you’re opposed to it and I get it but I’m going to do this.  I _have_ to.  It’s my fault he’s in this mess and I need to have some responsibility.  It would make it a hell of a lot easier if you helped but I’ve managed this long on my own, I’m sure I can do it again.  I won’t make you go back to the field.”

Oikawa opened his mouth to, presumably argue, but instead he coughed; thick and violent. Water sludged from his mouth, foamy and sticky as he gasped to take a breath through his shuddering.  It occurred to Iwaizumi that the little shit had been hiding his need to get back in the water and he realized what he thought was shivers from the cold were shivers from suppressing coughs.

“Idiot,” Iwaizumi huffed.

He jammed his hands under Oikawa’s armpits, lifting just as Kuroo’s bed head broke the surface.  His hands slapped forward with a strong grip onto Oikawa’s tail and he pulled at the same time that Iwaizumi pushed. Oikawa yelped in pain, twisting in their hold.

“That _hurts_ Tetsu-chan!” Oikawa managed between his bouts of coughing.  

“Consider it your punishment for being a stubborn idiot,” Kuroo said snippily.  

Together they managed to get Oikawa in the water where Kuroo promptly pushed his head under the water.  Iwaizumi attempted to pull up his drenched sweatpants to save anywhere above the knee but it was too late.  With a sigh he leaned back, putting his hands on his hips.

“I’ll talk to him,” Kuroo said, keeping Oikawa’s face underwater.  Judging by the thrashing of his tail, which caused a monstrous splash of seawater to rain over Iwaizumi, Oikawa had heard that, “he’s just stubborn.”

“You heard the whole conversation?” Iwaizumi asked, cheeks warming as he realized he had spilled everything to Kuroo in addition to Oikawa.

“Sound travels pretty far in water,” Kuroo mentioned off-handedly, “not everything was clear but I get the gist of it.”

“Right…” Iwaizumi sighed. He knew enough to make things awkward between them.

“Go home, get some sleep,” Kuroo sighed, “we’ll talk again.”

“Yeah,” Iwaizumi agreed feeling exhaustion pull at his limbs.  He bid them a goodnight and turned around ready to leave when he remembered that morning.  With a quiet curse he turned back around and pulled his hand through his hair, “Um...also...I have one last thing I need to say to him.”

He pointed to Oikawa and Kuroo huffed, looking bothered.  He did roll his eyes and pulled his hand away from Oikawa’s head so Iwaizumi didn’t comment on it.  Oikawa flipped around until his face was above the surface but Kuroo’s finger on his forehead prevented him from lifting his head out of the water fully, water still partially covering his ears.

“We will _not_ talk again,” Oikawa said immediately, “end of discussion!”  

“Anyway,” Iwaizumi spoke as if Oikawa had said nothing, “Mamaw came back to my house this morning.”

Oikawa’s face fell and Iwaizumi could feel a small prick of Oikawa’s panic from the ever present Heart in his body.  He waved his hand at Oikawa as if the action could physically disperse the Mermaid from snooping. He shook his head, “Nothing happened...just...she said that you needed to talk to her.  Something about having information for me...she also seems to know a lot about you...in particular.”

“What do you mean?” Kuroo demanded, his face stiffening into something fierce.

“She overheard me talk about the statue and from that she just started talking about Watchers and all that stuff you told me about before.  Like protecting the island and blessing it or something.  She seemed to know a lot and it didn’t seem like she was bullshitting either.”  

“What did she say about Iwa-chan?” Oikawa asked uncharacteristically serious.

“Just that she wouldn’t be giving me medication anymore since it would do more harm than good because of the Heart I’m housing.  Kind of relieved about that one...she made it sound like she was using bits of Mermaid to make it…”

“She is,” Oikawa confirmed, “and she’s right, it would only hurt you.  To start with, she’s a banned sea witch—forbidden to step foot back into the water. The only way they fuck up that drastically is by using one of their own in their spells.  Normally, the banishment would just mean that anything she creates is only half as effective as it would be if she had the ocean on her side.  In this case, it’s not only less effective, but spells with ingredients like sea witch have never mixed well with Heart.  Ever.  I’m pretty sure that’s why Iwa-chan was still having problems even while taking those disgusting pills she concocted.”

“So...with all of your Heart dwelling around with mine and this Sirens….it would have just gotten worse and worse?”

“I’d even say it could potentially set you back to square one,” Oikawa said firmly, “the fact that she actually cares about this is….strange.”

“I’m curious about what sort of information she wants to share…” Iwaizumi mentioned.

“That’s not smart,” Kuroo cut in, sounding stressed as he rubbed his forehead.

“I’m finding that almost nothing I do these days is,” Iwaizumi countered.

“He’s right…” Oikawa sighed, “we’ll have to consider it.”

* * *

 

Iwaizumi wasn’t entirely certain how things had escalated to the fight he was currently witnessing.  They had waited two days until Oikawa was feeling well enough to be out of the water for extended periods of time before they called Mamaw out to meet them on the Iwaizumi private beaches.  Culling week was only half over so they had meet in the evening due to the potential of cullers trespassing during the daytime.

 From the first sighting things had been tense, Iwaizumi had expected that, but they had also instantly started talking in that special language that Iwaizumi could only get vague feelings from.  He felt uncertainty, fear, aggression, _anger_.  Then, they were rearing up at each other, hackles up and sudden clarity came with Iwaizumi’s native language.  

“You think you are so _smart_ ,” Mamaw sneered between the crooked gaps of her teeth, her long fingers pinching white against Oikawa’s cheeks until they smeared against his nose, “but you are young.  You know _nothing_ of the past.”

Oikawa’s breath heaved from his chest and his tail slammed down, spraying water and sand around him.  Iwaizumi was beginning to recognize this as an intimidation tactic; one that Mamaw had just laughed at.  He forced her grip away, earning one of her long pointed fingernails scraping until it broke skin against his cheek.

“I know more than that of a sea witch banned from her birthplace!” Oikawa hissed through his own teeth, eyes sharp and glinting in the light of the beach.

“You think so highly of yourself because you get to stay wet,” Mamaw scoffed, “Bah! You come and live this life and you would be dead in a mere month.  Mermaids do not get to live here as I.  I have learned more here in my many years than you have at your fancy meetings and gaudy schools.  More than that I have _lived_ through what you _think_ you know.”

“Our telling of history has not become so diluted that we are blind to such happenings.  You were shamed from us for a _reason_ ,” Oikawa sneered, “and I for one will not be swayed by any more of your _slander_.”

“Slander,” Mamaw spat, “You know _nothing_ of my slander.”

“No?” Oikawa laughed, breathless, “Not of how you broke the one rule of Sea Witches?  Nor how you didn’t even try to defend yourself?! Tell me, which of your friends did you murder for your little science experiments?”

Before Iwaizumi could put a stop to anything―or at least try―Mamaw slapped her palm across Oikawa’s cheek and pinched his chin between her long fingernails, “You know _nothing_ ,” Mamaw hissed in his face, “but you _will_ learn.  It _is_ possible.”

They held eye contact, both of their chests heaving with pent up rage just waiting until it could explode to the surface.  Oikawa’s fingers gathered in the sand, making deep trenches until they were clenched tightly into a fist; sand trickling between his knuckles.  Mamaw straightened her spine as long as she could to be able to look down at him as she was, eye’s unmoving and glinting with fury; he forehead pressed nearly to Oikawa’s.  One hitched breath and it seemed that they would be fighting at each other’s throats.  

“If that’s all you have to say,” Iwaizumi spoke up hesitantly to Mamaw, unsure if the sudden sound of his voice would spark the fight or not, “then I’d like for you to go.”  

Mamaw filled her lungs with air and for a short moment, Iwaizumi really thought she was going in for the kill when she released the breath and sagged back into her hunched position, releasing her firm grip on Oikawa and leaving only red crescents behind on his skin as evidence.  She turned to him, offering him the same sweet smile he had come to know over the years and she hobbled over to him.

“You remind me of her,” Mamaw sighed her old breath rattling between her lungs, “I do wonder what you will become.”  

Uncomfortable and still unsure if she was trying to start a fight, Iwaizumi let her smooth her rubbery withered hand across his cheek.  She brushed her knuckles back through his hair, nails gently scraping behind his ear before she took the back of her hand under his chin and to his other cheek; where she repeated the process, “Um…”

She gave him a firm pat on his cheek before turning as if she were about to walk away before she shuddered to a stop.  Wide-eyed, she twisted her shoulders so she could face him again, “I wonder….what you could do.”

“What I could do?” Iwaizumi repeated back hopelessly looking towards Oikawa’s stony face for direction, which he did not receive.  He looked to Kuroo who was waiting, two legged just to Oikawa’s side; he too was stern faced and tense, ready to move at a moment’s notice.

“Yes,” Mamaw answered in wonder, her skin flapping with the stretch and pull of each earnest nod of her head, “Normally any bit of human spoils a spell...but you….you aren’t entirely human, are you?”

“I’m _not what_ now?”

“No, no you can’t be,” Mamaw muttered her eyes bright and her cheeks flush with interest.  Her hands came back to cup his face as she turned him from side to side, “Good things could come of you, Hajime-chan.”

“I’m lost,” He admitted between squished cheeks and furled brows.

“What do you say dear, just a poke? A bit of a prod?  Oh, please let me take a sample!” She shook her head wildly, white curls fanning out to slap him in the face from her proximity, “No, no _two―THREE_ samples!” She held three long large knuckled fingers in front of his face.

Before he could even ask what she was on about, Oikawa was gripping her wrist and pushing her hand down, his face far more intense than it had been moments before.  Kuroo stood right behind him, a threatening presence that made Iwaizumi’s knees tremor.  Unsure of what exactly was happening, he took a small step back and let the two Mermaids sort themselves out.

“You’ll not touch him,” Oikawa ordered his voice low and powerful; reverberating from even inside Iwaizumi’s chest.  He felt dizzy with the need to obey before realizing how stupid it would be to not even be able to rest his hands on his knees.  He had to be able to touch himself, what a silly order. He slid an unimpressed side glance to Oikawa when he realized the other was trying to use Heart.

“ _So_ scary,” Mamaw whispered around lips that threatened to quiver upwards and the ever persistent twinkle in her eye.  Oikawa’s grip on her wrist tightened until even Iwaizumi could hear her old bones creaking.  Neither of them broke eye contact nor let a crack of change crossover their expressions.

“Oikawa, stop,” Iwaizumi insisted when it seemed obvious that Mamaw’s bones were only seconds away from splintering.  The tide rose with Iwaizumi’s temper and he grabbed Oikawa’s wrist, “Seriously, _knock it off_!”  

The words felt odd in his throat, as if they were physically heavy on his vocal cords.  His sudden aggression ebbed with the trough of the water until it had receded entirely; only a whisper on his memory.  Oikawa’s reaction was instantaneous, body locking up and gooseflesh broke out across his skin.  His scales shimmered and twitched across his tail before his fingers fell lax, Mamaw’s hand falling back down to her side, purple and blue.  Oikawa’s head whipped to the side as he gave Iwaizumi proper eye contact for the first time since Mamaw had come into their view.  His mouth slightly ajar, his eyes wide and wet, and his cheeks pink.

“You see,” Mamaw sighed softly, “you cannot escape it.   _He_ cannot escape it.  It’s fate.”

“It is _bullshit_!” Oikawa snapped, though his wide eyes never left Iwaizumi’s face.

“Maybe so,” Mamaw shrugged, “But will you really leave him to die?”

Insulted, Iwaizumi scoffed, “Who said I can’t make it on my own?”

Oikawa rolled his eyes before shifting his stare back to Mamaw, lips pressed thin and skin going pale with each passing second.  

“Train him,” Mamaw ordered before turning to walk away, “Gods know someone has to.  Might as well be you.”

“We don’t need humans involved in this!” Oikawa snapped after her.

“Oh sweet child,” Mamaw sighed looking over he shoulder, eyes downturned and a soft smile across her face, “humans have been involved since the very beginning.  It is time they started doing their part.”

“Then we won’t be doing _ours_ ,” Oikawa protested vehemently.

“If you don’t train him, I _will_.”  Mamaw left with a dramatic flair of her hair brought on by a purposeful spin on her heel.

“What the fuck is going on?” Iwaizumi demanded, “Train me?”

“Shut up, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa sighed, pressing his fingers tight against his temple before he let his muscles relax and he lied face down in the sand, groaning.  He looked to Kuroo who gave a tired sigh and waved him off before laying out flat on the sand, one arm tossed over his eyes.

Frowning, Iwaizumi sighed and crossed his arms.  There was too much he didn’t understand from that meeting. Even the bits that _weren’t_ spoken in some sort of fish language were hard to follow.  He did understand the function of training, but why he needed it or why Oikawa had to be the one to do it were mysteries.  He tried to wait out Oikawa’s pouting fit but it became clear the Mermaid wasn’t going to move despite the tide continuing to recede and that he would soon be beached if he didn’t wiggle his way back down to the water.

“C’mon,” Iwaizumi sighed as he nudged at Oikawa’s hip with his toes, “Back into the water.  We’ll talk when you can breathe.”

“Mmph,” Oikawa protested―or at least Iwaizumi thought he was protesting.

“Oikawa,” he warned.  

Oikawa pressed his hands over his ears―yep protesting.  Kuroo sighed and started to get to his feet, dusting off sand as he did.

Iwaizumi sighed and sat down next to Oikawa, instantly regretting the sand in his pants.  He dropped a hand on Oikawa’s head, gracefully ignoring the other’s strong flinch.  He felt his way through Oikawa’s hair once before ruffling it persistently, “Don’t make me drag you.”

Finally Oikawa turned his face out to look at Iwaizumi, “Don’t be mean, Iwa-chan.”

“That, is my line,” Iwaizumi huffed before dropping his fingers so they rested just for an instant against Oikawa’s nose.  He knew it wasn’t quite the pinch that Kuroo provided or what Oikawa preferred, but he was hoping it would be enough.  The action was just too strange to him.  It seemed, as Oikawa’s eyes widened and his cheeks reddened that it _was_ in fact enough but the reaction made Iwaizumi’s own cheeks darken with a blush and he averted his eyes, “Anyway! You need to get back in the water before the tide recedes fully and we’ll talk from there.”

“You two are disgusting,” Kuroo chortled merrily as he hooked his arms under Oikawa’s armpits and dragged him rather easily into the water.  

“Did I do it wrong?” Iwaizumi blurted out, heart fluttering in panic.  Did it absolutely _have_ to be a pinch?  Was a simple touch an entirely different meaning?  He was about to ask again when Kuroo burst out into his ugly laughter, dropping Oikawa into the water to cross his arms over his belly, knees bent.

“He asked if he did it wrong,” Kuroo wheezed.

Embarrassed Iwaizumi turned on his heel ready to go home but a wet slap and sudden silence had him curious enough to turn back around.  Oikawa had thrown a wad of wet seaweed at Kuroo’s face earning himself a direct hit on the bullseye.  When the seaweed fell back into the water with a quiet _schlup_ Iwaizumi found himself laughing.

“Go away and let us be _disgusting_ then, Tetsu-chan!” Oikawa huffed before turning his Pout™ onto Iwaizumi, “Come swim with me.  You haven’t in forever and besides we can think about all this gross serious stuff later.”

Iwaizumi sighed, debating.  He was mostly certain that Oikawa was just trying to avoid the subject again and was more than likely aiming at Iwaizumi dropping it.  There was the chance that the Mermaid wanted a moment to process everything, to think it through and be certain of his choices.  That was fair.  Frustrating, but fair.  If it did turn out to be Oikawa trying to drop it, he could always pester him...or ask Kuroo.  He had a feeling he’d get somewhere that way.

“Fine,” He begrudgingly agreed.  He had to fight the smile rising up on his face at the way Oikawa lit up, “but only for a little bit, we still have to watch out for cullers.”

“Tetsu-chan can do that!” Oikawa said in a way that was both dismissive and serious.  

“Of course, of course,” Kuroo droned, exaggerating the way he bowed to Oikawa with his nose nearly to his knees, “whatever my liege needs!”  

Oikawa snorted and splashed him, “I’ll find that seaweed again!”

“I’ll take my leave,” Kuroo said before quickly striding away.  

Oikawa offered his hands out and Iwaizumi scratched the back of his head, wondering what he should do about his lack of swimming trunks.  He hadn’t exactly come prepared for this.  At the questioning raise of Oikawa’s eyebrow and motion to _come here_ he bit the bullet and slipped his sweatpants off.  It wasn’t like Oikawa hadn’t seen him in his boxers before.  He set the pants off to the side along with his shirt and sweater and approached the water.

His usual nerves bubbled up in his belly but he took Oikawa’s offered hands anyway.  He watched Oikawa’s tail slither against the ground, powerful, as it pushed sand aside to scoot his body backwards into deeper water.  The rush of water of his brilliant seafoam green scales and blue fins made his stomach churn and he switched his gaze to Oikawa’s eyes.  They were big and shiny, glimmering with the light of the sun, cutting like diamonds in their odd sections.  Eyes that used to remind him of the deep green of the Sirens now gave him a settled stomach and promised trust, deep browns that warmed him from his toes up.  

Water rushed over Oikawa’s chest and small disturbances over the water showed exactly where his fins were, propelling him backwards, Iwaizumi attached at his hands.  For a second he thought this is exactly what it would look like if he were being charmed away by a Siren.  The thought of a culler seeing the scene and thinking that the Iwaizumi line were cursed to die by sea creatures made him chuckle.

“Something funny on my face?” Oikawa questioned, eyebrow raised and mouth quirked up on the right.

“No,” Iwaizumi grinned, shaking his head, “just a thought.”

“Care to share?”

“Mmm not really,” Iwaizumi sighed, sinking down to let the water rush over his chest and shoulders, cooling the afternoon sun from his shoulders.  He had forgotten how relieving the ocean could be for him.

“Wanna get your face wet?” Oikawa asked by his ear, tail curled until it circled around his body, hovering just near his skin.

“Yeah,” Iwaizumi breathed, not really realizing how much he had missed that until Oikawa had asked.  

“If we go a little further, I can support you,” Oikawa offered.  

Iwaizumi nodded and stood, letting Oikawa lead him until the water naturally rose to his chest, waves breaking over his shoulders.  He followed the pressure of Oikawa’s hands and leaned back, letting the other support him completely, until he was floating on his back with Oikawa’s hands supporting his head and shoulder.  A wave lifted him higher and a bought of panic made him suck in a breath and snap his hand up to snatch Oikawa’s forearm, his fin feeling too odd beneath his hand.

“Shh,” Oikawa shushed, “I’ve got you.”  His thumb rubbed a comforting circle against the back of Iwaizumi’s head.  Iwaizumi swallowed hard, trying to calm his breathing and relax again but with his eyes squeezed shut all he could see were the green shards of the Siren’s eyes.  His heart raced against his ribcage and he fought to slow it back down.

“I don’t―,” Iwaizumi bit down on his lip; he wanted to keep trying.        

“Just look at me,” Oikawa insisted, “I’ve got you.”

A shadow fell over his eyes and without the threat of the overhead sun blinding him, he was able to crack them open.  Warm brown greeted him, still shimmering like jewels fresh from water, but comforting.  Not a trace of olive could be found in Oikawa’s face, only perfectly cut bones angling together to create the outline of his face; symmetrical and clean.  His upturned button nose, cute enough to kiss, instead of the sharp long slopes of the Sirens made it easier to relax and let out a held breath.  

“I know,” Iwaizumi said earnestly, “I believe you.”

“Good,” Oikawa quipped in return, “at this point I might be insulted if you didn’t.”

Iwaizumi scoffed, “You’re always insulted by something.”

“Hey!” Oikawa huffed, “I am _not_!”

“You’re doing it now,” Iwaizumi laughed, the movement of the waves lifting him now enjoyable; relaxing even.  He only laughed harder when Oikawa’s face scrunched up like he was trying to figure out a way to deny the claim without seeming insulted.  Eventually The Pout™ took over his face anyway.  When his laughter finally subsided Iwaizumi pulled away the hand that had been gripping Oikawa’s arm and pressed it against the others cheek, “It’s okay, it’s almost cute.”

“Only almost?” Oikawa huffed, cheeks out in a different sort of pout where he refused to make eye contact.

“Yeah,” Iwaizumi agreed softly, “only almost.  You could raise some points by not being so easily insulted.”

“Iwa-chan is such a bully,” Oikawa whined but his lips tilted upwards in a poor attempt to cover his smile.

“We all have our faults,” Iwaizumi shrugged, water brushing his ear.

“You’re right,” Oikawa murmured by his temple, no longer readily visible to Iwaizumi, “Ready to try?” Oikawa asked as Iwaizumi’s hand fell back into the water.

“Yeah.”

“Okay, I’m going to lower you,” Oikawa warned before doing just that.

There was a second of panic as the water rushed over his face and he felt the same rush of anxiety that he remembered from all those years ago.  He squeezed his eyes shut, a deep breath held in his lungs.  Oikawa’s arm came around his waist to support him before a thumb brushed over his eyebrows, then down his cheeks and to his lips.

“Isn’t this refreshing?”  Oikawa’s voice seemed to be an octave off now.  Just a touch higher and there was motion in it.  Like his voice was riding on the current with the tide.  Ebbing and flowing through Iwaizumi’s ears until his body relaxed and he realized that it was refreshingly cool on his face.  The heat from the sun was rapidly pulled from his skin, cool waves washing over him and making him a new, “I would ask Iwa-chan to open his eyes again but I bet the salt water doesn’t feel good.”

He was right but there was no way in hell that Iwaizumi was going to miss a visual of the ocean for the first time in years.  Opening his eyes stung and he almost regretted it as the water wasn’t as clear as he remembered it being.  Dark floating masses suggested seaweed was free floating around them, particles in the water rode waves past his nose, and sheets of sunlight made slanted patches through the water; warm if he put his arm through it.  All of it was beautiful enough to make him tear up―something he could blame on the salt―but at the center of his vision was the most beautiful of all.

 When dry, Oikawa’s hair was like sculpted waves, recreated on dry land to give thanks to the beauty of the sea.  In the water it was like a halo, lazily reaching to curl around an ear with the movement of the ocean or to swirl like an afterthought around him with his own movements.  A sheet of bright sunlight lit it up making it seem like fine silk.  On impulse he reached up, resting his elbows on Oikawa’s shoulders and twirling his fingers through his hair.  It was delightfully soft.  His chest tingled with that strange fuzzy feeling again.

Oikawa smiled softly, eyes curving upwards, “Iwa-chan is so stubborn.”  His voice was just as soft as his hair, fluttering through Iwaizumi’s ears just as pleasantly as his mothers humming, “Doesn’t that hurt?”

Did it not hurt Oikawa?  He pulled his hands down along Oikawa’s jaw, thumbs brushing over his temple and the sides of his face while his fingers cupped the back of his head.  Looking at the brilliant cut of Oikawa’s eyes he could see it, the thick layer that he had been teasing Iwaizumi with when he was in the bathtub.  It fully covered his eyes thick and protective against salt and anything else that might try to float in.  Iwaizumi offered a soft smile and gently shook his head.

“Liar,” Oikawa chuckled, “want to swim?”

He did.  He also wanted to continue taking in how absolutely breathtaking Oikawa’s full form was in the water.  On land it was still beautiful but this, the way his scales reflected sunlight onto small patches of water, turning them deeper blues or lighter shades of turquoise was incomparable to anything else Iwaizumi had ever witnessed.  Still, he nodded.  

Swimming again gave him such a profound feeling of joy that even when his chest started to ache and he thought he wouldn’t last another second, he didn’t want to surface.  He felt it would break the beauty of the moment.  Swimming side by side with a Mermaid of all creatures.  One whose powerful tail was so leisurely in its movements to propel Oikawa along Iwaizumi’s side.  His webbed hands closed to cut though the water and change his direction at will.  If keeping pace with a slow human was this enamoring to watch, he wondered how breathtaking it would be to watch Oikawa _actually_ swim.  

Regrettably he did have to surface, motioning once to Oikawa to warn him.  No sooner had he broke the surface to take a deep breath was Oikawa’s arm wrapping around his waist again.  As if he couldn’t stand the thought of not supporting Iwaizumi as a _just in case_.  The concern was strangely appealing and he found himself appreciative instead of irritated.  He pushed his wet bangs from his face and wiped his eyes before cracking them open again.

  He had been a fool to think Oikawa could only shine in the water.  Freshly surfaced Oikawa had a beauty of his own to him.  His hair was soppy and slathered to his head, curling still around his cheeks and ears.  Water trickled down in a steady stream from each section of wet locks where sunlight would shine.  Small scales, ones he hadn’t noticed before, lie embedded on the dips of his collarbones and shoulders, they too caught the sun and reflected light against his skin.  

“You know,” Oikawa started his voice back down an octave and amused, “If I didn’t know any better, I would say that Iwa-chan has been checking me out all day.”

Iwaizumi let himself have a moment, taking in the well formed muscles on Oikawa’s torso before moving up his body to his throat―soft and inviting―where his gills flexed shut against the long column.  His eyes caught on the curved smirk of Oikawa’s plush lips, pink and wet from the sea.  Until he finally made eye contact again.

“And if I have been?”

Oikawa’s face flushed all at once, his pale complexion coloring easily and instantaneously. Satisfaction bloomed in Iwaizumi’s chest at the sight, it seemed funny to him how admissions of his beauty seemed to be almost unimportant to Oikawa, acknowledged with arrogance and priss.  Yet, when Iwaizumi genuinely complimented him or admitted to any sort of attraction to the other he became bashful; it was too cute.

“Then,” Oikawa started nervously tongue darting out to wet his lips further, “then I’d have to admit that I have been doing the same.”

“Oh?” Iwaizumi asked, feeling flushed himself―something he attributed to his previous exercise, “have you been?”

OIkawa’s arm tightened around his waist, drawing their bodies together. His eyes darted away from Iwaizumi’s for just a second, landing on his lips and seemingly caught there before he opened his mouth to speak again.  Only to close his lips and clear his throat.

“Um,” he started voice soft and pleasing to Iwaizumi’s ears, “Yeah. I have been.”

“Nervous is a good look on you,” Iwaizumi teased not expecting Oikawa’s flushed cheeks to darken more.  

“I have many good looks, you know,” Oikawa quipped before pressing their foreheads together, “You should stick around to see them all.”

“Mmm,” Iwaizumi hummed, his heart pounding away in his chest which was fuzzy with that same feeling from earlier which now wiggled away next to the buzz of his nerves, “I’ll think about it.”  

“Maybe you can think later,” Oikawa’s breath was nothing but a whisper, his hand splaying at the small of Iwaizumi’s back.

“Well, we should _probably_ be talking about this big pile of shit our lives have turned into,” Iwaizumi murmured, eyes falling half lidded.

“Later,” Oikawa said, his other hand coming to rest on Iwaizumi’s hip, “for now, let’s just forget we ever had problems in the first place.”

“That’s not healthy,” Iwaizumi said softly, hands coming up to cup Oikawa’s face.

“We can remember later,” Oikawa said, “promise.”

“Okay,” Iwaizumi consented before tilting his head to align their lips properly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In order to thicken the dick, I must be the dick.
> 
> Koi-ink.tumblr.com

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on my writing blog at koi-ink.tumblr.com or on my personal at koibitotedare.tumblr.com  
> Feel free to drop me a line, ask, or request at any time! I'd love to hear from you!


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